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The Villages
Friday, March 29, 2024

Webster introduces legislation to bolster FEMA preparation and response  

Congressman Daniel Webster has introduced bipartisan legislation to strengthen disaster mitigation and resilience programs administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The Republican Congressman who represents The Villages was joined Wednesday in the announcement by Chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Peter DeFazio, D-Oreo., and other members of the U.S. House of Representatives from both sides of the aisle. 

Congressman Daniel Webster is flanked by Sheriff Bill Farmer and Sumter County Administrator Bradley Arnold at the county’s emergency operations center in 2017 in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma.

The Resilient Assistance for Mitigation for Environmentally Resilient Infrastructure and Construction by Americans Act, or Resilient AMERICA Act, will: 

  • Return unspent funds from the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program to the Disaster Relief Fund (DRF), which ensures that these expiring and unspent funds will still help our communities prepare for and respond to disasters.
  • Double the funding stream dedicated to FEMA’s Pre-Disaster Mitigation program.
  • Extend eligibility for Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) to include private non-profits (PNPs), which ultimately will reduce the impact and damage from a disaster.
  • Expand the reach of the post-disaster Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) to prevent utility outages in the face of extreme wildfire, wind, tsunami, and ice events.
  • Fund residential resilience retrofit block grants to states, tribes, and territories to strengthen homes for maximum protection and safety.

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