The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) passed two proposals today sponsored by U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., to help improve accountability over America’s disaster recovery efforts and non-disaster grants.

The first measure would require the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to update the HSGAC and its House counterpart on its national preparedness assessment. Enzi said that the Government Accountability Office first recommended that FEMA complete this type of survey seven years ago but it was never fully completed.

“We thought a more efficient way to do this would be to have FEMA update our committee and the House counterpart on its local and national preparedness assessments that it has been conducting since 2011 but never finalizing,” Enzi said. “This assessment will make Congress more informed during the policy making process so goals can be agreed on.”

The second proposal, according to Enzi, represents a step toward making sure the government spends taxpayer dollars efficiently without compromising homeland security. It would require FEMA to report to the HSGAC on its findings of duplication and overlap among non-disaster grant programs. 

“This will help us better understand and be better stewards of taxpayer dollars, and make FEMA’s disaster and non-disaster spending more effective,” Enzi said.

The proposals were offered as amendments to the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018, which the committee passed with bipartisan support.