Prolific Graves “running through the tape” with most bills passed in yesterday’s mark up
Critical disaster and safety legislation authored by Congressman Garret Graves (South Louisiana) passed the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee yesterday – just one week after Hurricane Francine made landfall. The combination of three FEMA bills, if enacted, will streamline disaster recovery, get assistance quickly to victims, and rebuild communities faster. The two transportation bills will improve roadway safety, help address supply chain shortfalls and help protect communities from rogue drone operators.
Despite fewer than four months remaining in his term, Graves passed more bills yesterday than any member of the committee; a further indicator that Graves is “running through the tape” to exhaust all efforts to pass legislation for the folks of Louisiana and to improve America’s transportation and infrastructure.
“Louisiana obviously has something to teach the rest of the country when it comes to disaster recovery. Experience becomes wisdom. Our bipartisan bills, crafted from tough lessons learned from multiple disasters, will simplify and streamline recovery by getting resources to the officials who understand local needs better than anyone, and to the victims who just want to put their lives back together. As long as storms won’t stop, we won’t stop passing legislation to protect victims and communities,” said Graves.
- H.R. 8728, the State-Managed Disaster Relief Act, co-authored by Congressman Jared Moskowitz (Florida) would allow governors to request lump sum payments for natural disaster recovery for smaller disasters, putting states in the driver’s seat by getting them the resources they need faster and bypassing the federal government’s red tape. Nearly half of America’s disasters since 2021 would have qualified for state-directed recovery efforts under this legislation, freeing up the bandwidth of FEMA to focus its attention and resources on major disasters and better service for disaster victims. Reducing bureaucracy, expediting recovery efforts, and better supporting affected communities means local communities have another tool to manage recovery while ensuring that federal resources are used where they are most needed.
- H.R. 6083, the Duplication of Benefits Victims Relief Act, co-authored by Congressman Troy Carter (Louisiana), extends Graves’ earlier Duplication of Benefits (DoB) relief provision in the Disaster Recovery Reform Act (DRRA) of 2018 for an additional five years. The Graves DoB fix prevents federal agencies from denying recovery grants that they deem duplicative to recovery loans, thereby creating two classes of disaster victims and imposing an often insurmountable hardship to those denied recovery grants. The bill also states that the fix applies to all 2016 Flood victims, preventing federal agencies from blocking assistance to victims who became eligible for federal assistance after Graves’ DoB fix became law in 2018.
- H.R. 2672, the FEMA Loan Interest Payment Relief Act, co-authored by Congressmen Neal Dunn (Florida) and Darren Soto, requires FEMA to reimburse local government power services and electrical cooperatives for interest that accrues on disaster recovery loans. These loans help to restore power and strengthen infrastructure of local government-provided power. As public entities, they are supported entirely by local ratepaying customer. Interest on these particular loans are predatory on small, local government providers and actually harm the ratepayer (likely also a disaster victim) who foots the bill with higher rates. The interest that accrues from slow FEMA bureaucracy is punitive to the local government provider and the ratepayer/victim. And the revenue it generates benefits no one.
- H.R. 3356, the Motor Carrier Safety Screening Modernization Act, co-authored by Congresswoman Sharice Davids (Kansas) expands access to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s current Pre-Employment Screening Program (PSP). The bill allows companies can access safety records on an ongoing basis – not just for prospective hires. While the program will continue to be voluntary, ongoing checks into safety records will allow motor carriers to increase their safety culture and make the roads safer for everyone. Expanding access to this voluntary program will increase roadway safety, address supply chain shortfalls, and decrease the cost of insurance for safety-minded employers.
- H.R. 8610, the Counter-UAS Authority Security Safety Act, co-authored by Congressman Mark Green (Tennessee), protects communities and critical infrastructure from rogue unmanned aerials systems (UAS)/drone operators by authorizing the acquisition, deployment, and operation of an approved counter-UAS system by law enforcement on behalf of designated areas – by putting advanced detection systems in the hands of law enforcement agencies and critical infrastructure operators all across the country, representing a significant step forward in protecting facilities from errant drones.
“Our motor carrier bill make our roadways safer for all Americans and is a shot in the arm for our supply chain, allowing more goods to safely and efficiently moved throughout the country. And our counter-UAS legislation adds one more layer of protection for our communities and critical infrastructure, particularly in Louisiana,” Graves said.
###
