Preparedness response and recovery will be in order. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare the subcommittee in recess at any point. Id like to say good morning. You do fulfill your mission of helping people before, during, and afters astors. We are here to discuss femas budget request for fiscal year 2023, management of recent disasters, and preparedness for future ones. The threat of Climate Change continues to grow due to increasing temperatures. It appears recordbreaking weather is our new reality. Who oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted another above average Hurricane Season. In 2021 there were 58 major disaster declarations. This year we have already had 20 major disaster declarations. In 2017 Hurricane Irma caused 84 deaths in my home state of florida. And, nearly 50 billion in damages for the United States. In 2020 Hurricane Sally severely impacted florida and resulted in 7. 3 billion in damages across the Florida Panhandle and alabama. In 2020 to allow the Florida Forest Service has reported that 37 wildfires have destroyed over 22,000 acres in the state. And this year femas preparedness efforts could very well be impacted by supply Chain Shortages. In florida we have real concerns about the critical labor and supply Chain Shortages that are impacting floridas electric cooperatives. And municipalities. These issues and highlight the importance for preparedness in disasters at all levels. And certainly creates additional challenges for femas workforce. This subcommittee, without a doubt, recognizes the overwhelming responsibility placed on fema. And is held this year on femas workforce, femas workforce has experienced several challenges related to recruitment, retention, and training for example. I understand that fema is working to address these challenges and i look forward to hearing more today about how the agency is working to help this incredible workforce thrive. Investing in femas workforce ensures that they will be continued to prepared for cat tackling they request to contain several initiatives to help support and strengthen femas workforce. The for the incident management workforce. Fema administers preparedness grants to states and local such as the urban Area Security initiative and the state Homeland Security program. See these funds assist states with building and maintaining homeless clarity capabilities to prepare for and prepare for threats. As a former Law Enforcement when i was a police chief. I relied i relied on the program to keep my community safe. Last year i introduced hr 50 1 15 that recognizes the. Importance of an important Security Capabilities achieved funding for communities. I am pleased the legislation passed the house in march. I am confident that this subcommittee will continue to do our part and push for this legislation to become law. As an advocate for the program, i am concerned about the agency s budget request for fiscal year 2023. Which proposes cuts to the urban Area Security initiative, and the state of Homeland Security program. I look forward to our conversation today about these vital programs. I am pleased, though, to say that the proposed budget request includes 360 million for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, which is 110 million above fiscal year 2022 funding. The proposed funding increases especially important in recent years. We have seen a spat of threats against nonprofits, specifically houses of worship and including 36 bomb threats to historically black colleges and universities alone. This year, we have seen the value of the Nonprofit Security Grant Program. For example, Rebecca Citron walker recalled training funded by the program. Congregants escape an armed vigil who is holding them hostage at a congregation Beth Israel Synagogue in colleyville, texas. Furthermore, i am a proud sponsor of chairman thompsons legislation, hr 76 68, a federal Emergency Management advancement of equity act, which is a tremendous step in making certain the Disaster Response more adequately meets the needs in the most vulnerable areas throughout our nation. I look forward to hearing from you administrator criswell about how the proposed budget helps bolster fema readiness to tackle the ever growing threats and how congress can continue to assist in supporting your mission. The chair now recognizes the Ranking Member of the ad merge unseat preparedness response and recovery subcommittee, the gentlewoman of florida, miss cabin, for her Opening Statement. Thank you for holding this important hearing today. Thank you to administer criswell, for being here before us. As floridians, of course, i think theres far more that we agree on and it comes on this huge issue, and most others. Im excited for todays hearing. As we all know, femas mission is to help people before, during, and after disasters. I put an emphasis on before because i think collectively when we place an emphasis on mitigation, we are better for in the aftermath. With the 2022 atlantic Hurricane Season entering its second week, this mission cannot be understated, overstated. As representatives from florida, i know that the chairwoman and i both agree that our state certainly has seen its fair share of Natural Disasters. During my time as the Ranking Member of the subcommittee, i have gained a deeper appreciation for the vital work that fema does. For the men and women that comprise femas workforce. Ive also seen the incredible work that we had of ahead of us. I feel confident that we will succeed. For example, this suite of preparedness grants provides critical support so that state, local, tribal governments have the resources to keep our communities safe. Following that horrific attack against the congregation Beth Israel Synagogue in colleyville, texas, i was pleased to see the increase to the Nonprofit Security Grant Program to 300 and 60 million for fiscal year 23. Similarly, i was very pleased to see an increase of 10 million in the fy 23 request from the fy 22 enacted levels for both the assistance to firefighters Grant Program, and the staffing for adequate fire Emergency Response, the Grant Programs. As a wife of a firefighter i know how important and necessary these grants are. Not only for our professional and career departments, but for our nearly 30,000 volunteer Fire Departments across the United States. Sometimes i feel like theyre a little bit of the red headed stepchild, they dont get near enough attention, today im going to be talking about their needs as well. How fema can better serve our volunteer departments. The fy 23 budget also includes 312 million for education, training, and exercises, including 8 million for femas Emergency Management institute. To expand satellite partnerships, develop leadership programs, and modernize Virtual Technology systems among other items. It is important that through mi and femas other educational facilities, that we ensure resources and training remain accessible to communities across the country, including our rural communities. I look forward to hearing more from the administrator on emmas request to an additional lives that seek to improve the valuable training for our emergency responders. Additionally, will not explicitly laid on the budget, i am encouraged to learn a femas recently released Building Code strategy which seeks to organize and prioritize the femas activities to advance the adoption and enforcement of hazard resistant Building Codes and standards for fema programs. As we learn from the university of florida professor, dr. David, go gators, who submitted written testimony for a last subCommittee Hearing, are better Building Construction can narrow the width of the most catastrophic destruction so that homes, will possibly experiencing damage, can remain habitable immediately following a disaster. Not only does better Building Construction immensely benefit the disaster survivor, there is potential for significant saving costs, or cost savings. While much of femas fy 23 budget seems fairly straightforward, i still have Major Concerns regarding your emergency food and Shelter Program. The 23 request includes 24 million to provide shelter and other services to families and individuals in countering the department of Homeland Security. Although 24 million is less than the hundred and 50 million enacted for fiscal year 2022, it is not an insignificant number. At a time when americans are having to make the choice between gas or groceries, and those on fixed incomes are seeing their rents skyrocket, i have to ask why so much of american tax dollars are going to house illegal immigrants. I would also like this time to mention my concerns with femas funeral assistance program. During a full Committee Hearing last year, i asked you, administrator criswell, if there are enough safeguards in place to ensure that fraud throughout the program would not be rampant. During that hearing, you assured me that fema was taking the necessary precautions, however both the dhs and the g. A. O. Recently released reports detailing instances of fraud within the program, that of course has led to abuse and waste of taxpayer dollars. Given that this program has paid out over 2. 5 billion, with a b, i look forward to hearing more on the program today and the steps that you and fema are taking to ensure that these issues are corrected. Again, i want to thank you, administrator criswell, for appearing before us today. Im eager to learn a femas priorities for the year, and how this budget requests supports our goals. I know that we have sparred a bit over these last 16 months over various issues, i want to assure you and my colleagues, and americans, that we are here and we have to ask the tough questions. Conduct the actual oversight if were gonna be effective in femas mission. As always, thank you to our fema workforce, our first responders, arm urgency manners and at every level of government. Your ability to adapt to everchanging threats and vulnerabilities ensures that our nations continued ability to prevent, prepare, and mitigate, respond to, and recover from the threats and hazards we faced daily. With that, madam chairwoman. I yield back. I want to thank the Ranking Member for her Opening Statement. You know, as i think about the safety and security of the people that we represent, i dont believe there are any tough questions that we are not prepared for. Or laser focused on providing the necessary services. So, thank you for your Opening Statement. Members are reminded that the committee will operate according to the guidelines laid out by the chairman and Ranking Member in their february 3rd, 2021, colloquy, regarding remote procedures. Without objections, members not on the subcommittee shall be permitted to sit and question the witnesses. I welcome our witness, deanne criswell. The administrator for the federal Emergency Management agency. Miss chris well is the 12th administrative of the federal Emergency Management agency and is the first Senate Confirmed woman to lead the agency. Prior to her appointment, administrator criswell was the commissioner for the new york Emergency Management department. She coordinated emergency planning, and response, for all emergencies, including covid 19. Previously, administrator criswell worked for fema as a federal coordinating officer where she was the primary federal representative responsible for leading the agencys response during declared disasters. Without objection, the witnesses full statement will be inserted in the record. I now ask administrator criswell to summarize her statement for five minutes. Good morning. Good morning, chairwoman, Ranking Member cammack, members of the subcommittee, thank you for inviting me here today to talk about our fiscal year 2023 budget request. As you have mentioned in your statements, the field of Emergency Management is at a Pivotal Moment in its history. Our operating environment has. Ten years ago we managed a average of 108 disasters a year. Today, as of june 10th we are managing 348. This includes the ongoing response to the covid19 pandemic. The changing climate is the biggest crisis facing our nation. It makes Natural Disasters more frequent and more destructive. This is compounding the impacts of disasters for underserved communities, our budget request ensures that the agencies continue to meet these challenges and help people before, during, and after disasters. Fema aligned its budget request to support the three goals in our Strategic Plan. First as an agency we must instill equity as a foundation of Emergency Management. We must recognize that disasters affect individuals and communities differently. Our Strategic Plan focuses our entire agency in putting people first and reducing barriers to our progress. We have already made important changes on how we can provide assistance. For instance, some homeowners had difficulty proving that they owned their homes, and if their property had been handed down through the generations. We expanded the types of documentation we can accept including receipts for major repairs, or improvements court documents, Public Officials letters and even applicant Self Certification for mobile homes and travel trailers as a last resort. In addition we changed the way that we calculate the front threshold for property losses to qualify for our direct housing program. This resulted in more than 2700 families receiving assistance who had not been considered for direct housing in the past. This means over 2700 families with a roof over their head, a bed to sleep, in and a stove to cook with. We also know the more our workforce resembles the nation we serve, the better we will serve it. We are adapting our recruiting efforts to reach individuals from under represented communities by partnering with organizations like historically black colleges and universities, and other minorities serving institutions. Second, we must lead the whole community to climate resilience. Fema is not just a response and recovery agency. One of my highest priorities is Hazard Mitigation. Congress is investment in Hazard Mitigation has been strong. We have seen it most recently through the appropriation of 6. 8 billion dollars in mitigation funds to fema in the Infrastructure Investment and jobs act of 2021. Including funding to establish Revolving Loan funds under the storm act. The budget request includes 3. 4 billion for further investments, including the building resilient infrastructure and Communities Program, our Hazard MitigationGrant Program, flood maps, and the federal flood Risk Management standard. We think innovatively and shift our projects to those with Community Wide impacts. And we must eliminate the barriers underserved communities face when seeking Hazard Mitigation existence. Third, we must promote and sustain a ready fema and a prepared nation. The increased frequency, severity, and complexity of disasters has heightened demands on femas workforce, and on the broader Emergency Management community. Femas request includes 19. 7 billion dollars for the Disaster Relief fund to address current and future disasters. To reach this number fema worked shoulder to shoulder with Disaster Impact in states and localities, to understand their recovery needs from ongoing catastrophic disasters. In addition to evaluating the historical cost average for non catastrophic disasters. The allocation of funds and a reserve to ensure fema maintains the authority to fund in