Senate votes to replace FEMA with new agency

WASHINGTON – The Senate voted Tuesday to revamp the troubled Federal Emergency Management Agency to improve its response to natural disasters or another domestic attack.

Senators voted 87-11 to replace FEMA with a new independent agency within the Department of Homeland Security, called the U.S. Emergency Management Authority, with a director who would have direct access to the president.

The action was incorporated in an amendment to the DHS appropriations bill, which faces more votes. The House is still considering a proposal that would make FEMA a free-standing agency with Cabinet-level status.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who chairs the Senate Committee on Homeland Security, said the Senate amendment passed Tuesday reflects key recommendations of her committee’s seven-month investigation into the failed preparations and response to Hurricane Katrina.

“This provision will go far to ensuring that we will have a far more effective structure to protect our fellow citizens’ lives and livelihoods from disaster,” said Collins. “The overarching objective of the amendment is to strengthen FEMA by giving it new authority, new capabilities and new responsibilities for all-hazards emergency preparedness and response.”