Congress can better help Americans before and after disaster strikes by passing the Fixing Emergency Management for Americans Act, H.R. 4669, the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies said today.
Testifying on behalf of NAMIC before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Brian Waller, vice president of external relations for Columba, Missouri-based Shelter Insurance, told lawmakers that federal disaster policy should not simply be a response to catastrophe.
“Emergency management is at its best when all stakeholders are laser-focused on helping affected communities by bending the risk curve before and after storms,” he said. “The insurance industry has a long history of working to advance solutions that reduce risk to Americans’ housing and infrastructure, and promoting pre-disaster mitigation investment to harden homes and communities against increasingly severe weather.”
In recent years, FEMA has struggled to meet the needs of the American people, as Waller’s testimony noted there are more than 600 open disaster declarations dating back to 2020 and a backlog of nearly $10 billion in disaster related reimbursement requests and grant programs while thousands of individual assistance requests remain stuck in bureaucratic limbo.
While focusing on loss prevention ahead of disasters, Waller said FEMA must also be focused, “on the experience of victims in the wake of disasters. No American should be left in limbo for weeks, months, or even years over inconsistent paperwork requirements.”
Provisions in the FEMA Act would address the challenges of both pre- and post-disaster management, Waller said, by improving disaster mitigation grant programs for individuals and communities, establishing a task force to clear the declarations backlog, expediting infrastructure repairs, and significantly simplifying the disaster aid application process.
“We all know that when it comes to natural disasters, it’s a case of when, not if,” Waller said, telling the committee, “your actions regarding the future of this agency will provide meaningful help to Americans in need for years to come.”
The committee approved the FEMA Act in September 2025 by a 57-3 vote. The legislation represents overdue and comprehensive reform for the embattled agency. Jimi Grande, senior vice president of federal and political affairs for NAMIC, said the hearing should spur movement for the bill. “The longer Congress waits, the more Americans are put at risk,” Grande said. “There haven’t been many opportunities to pass significant bipartisan legislation, and Congress needs to take this one.”
