GOP presses for Senate passage of FEMA bill during Hurricane Sandy review

Republicans on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee said Tuesday that Hurricane Sandy made the case for passing their version of a bill containing funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The discussion came during a hearing called to review of the "preparedness, response to and recovery from" the hurricane that badly damaged roads and public transit systems in several Northeastern states in late October.

House Transportation Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) said Tuesday that the House's version of the FEMA measure would have made it easier for affected states to recover from Sandy.

"We have attempted, as a committee, to make some reforms, and also deal with some of the problems we've had from past storms and natural disasters, and the House prior to ... this most recent storm, passed H.R.-2903, which was the FEMA Reauthorization Act," Mica said at the beginning of Tuesday's hearing.

"That was passed on September 19th, before the storm began, and it ... was passed specifically to deal with some of the problems we've had with previous natural disasters, and also the ability of FEMA, our emergency management organization at the federal level, to deal with some of those issues," he continued. 

In the immediate aftermath of Sandy, public transportation systems in states like New York and New Jersey were closed, hampering residents' ability to get around as they were dealing with personal property damage.

Republicans have said their FEMA bill would streamline the disaster relief process for individuals already dealing with infrastructure hardships in the wake of a damaging storm.

Mica said Tuesday he was "hopeful that we can dislodge" the FEMA bill in the Senate before the end of the year — and the end of the 112th Congress.

"Hopefully again our legislation can be passed before this Congress leaves," Mica said.

"Some 10 years from now we don't want to be having hearings and asking FEMA why it's taking so long to rebuild from Hurricane Sandy," he also offered. "We know what is awaiting, unfortunately, some of the folks in New York and New Jersey and other areas that have been impacted in the Northeast by this most recent storm, and we know the red tape, paperwork and sometimes confusing process that they have to deal with." 

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