WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) took to the Senate Floor last night to call for the passage of supplemental disaster aid for Vermont and other communities that have been impacted by natural disasters. In his remarks, Sen. Welch also urged his colleagues to support flexible disaster aid programs, and advocated for more local control of the disaster recovery process—a concern discussed while visiting flooded communities this summer. 

View Senator Welch’s remarks here: 

Key quotes from Senator Welch:  

Senator Welch on the Importance of Passing Disaster Aid:  

“Let me be clear: there are families across America—in Vermont, and in communities impacted by natural disasters across our country—that need us to help. And they can’t recover without us.  

“FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund is running out of money forcing FEMA to function on what is essentially reserve funding. This is no fault of FEMA’s, it’s all a result of the catastrophic weather events that have been occurring rapidly—frequently—throughout our country, and in Vermont. The past year and a half has brought brutal floods in Vermont, and terrible fires, hurricanes, and tornadoes across the United States. Louisiana right now is bracing for the worst as Hurricane Francine moves onshore. Our prayers of Vermont are with the people of Louisiana. We know their heartbreak and their pain right now. These communities—and it’s especially the case with rural communities—cannot weather these storms alone.” 

Senator Welch on the Importance of Flexibility in Disaster Aid:  

“It’s very important that disaster aid be flexible. We can’t expect our communities—those who are ravaged by disaster—to fight alone. The entire country has been hammered by climate change and by these weather events. We need flexible funding, which is available through the Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery relief program. The CDBG-DR program is a great example of how aid can be controlled by communities because there’s so much more flexibility with that fund. Senator Schatz of Hawaii, as Chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, is leading the push for this funding and I join him in this effort.” 

Senator Welch on the Need for FEMA Improvements:  

“Madam President, the experience I’ve had visiting communities—visiting farms, visiting businesses, and visiting Vermont homeowners, immediately following our state’s flooding, has given me—number one, enormous respect for Administrator Criswell. She was right there after the flood, along with her staff, doing everything they could to help communities. But once the immediate event has come and gone, and the repair and recovery has to start, it’s going to take oftentimes a year or more to repair bridges…for families to get an answer of whether they do or don’t get a buy-out…for farms to get what meager relief might be available.  

“And what we’ve seen, is that at that point the centralization of the decision-making authority and responsibility, with various FEMA offices located around the country…and the FEMA office in charge of Vermont that has to make these decisions on a bridge or a buy-out—things that are crucially important to Vermonters—is in Puerto Rico.  

“And what I’ve seen is that the energy, and effort, and resources, and talent, is at the local level. So, if you’re on the Select Board in Lyndonville, you’ve got the responsibility to your voters to get that bridge fixed. You actually know who the best contractors are. You know how to get it done. But the way it works right now, those decisions about moving forward on a recovery project are made in a distant location.  

“I’ve talked with many of my colleagues about a similar aftermath of the original event: immediate aid is provided, but then when you’re talking about a contract, and you’re talking about implementation—The reality is, we’ve got to have much more local control, much more local responsibility, much more local capacity, with the resources that are available through FEMA. It means that decisions will be made sooner, the work will be done in a more cost effective and efficient way.”  

Senator Welch on the Importance of Flood Recovery Funding for Vermont Communities:  

“I spent a good bit of time this past summer traveling to the flooded communities…in Vermont to see what has happened to our homes, small businesses, and farms to roads, and bridges that were washed out.  

“Folks across Vermont, in places like Moretown, Plainfield, Barre, Barnet, St. Johnsbury, Peacham, Lyndonville, and Hardwick, are all reeling from what has happened. They’re pulling together. They’re coming back. Neighbors are helping neighbors. But it is not going to get done unless we provide the supplemental funding with the disaster relief that is essential to the wellbeing of Vermonters as well as the wellbeing of folks who have suffered from catastrophic weather events across the country.  

“Vermont will hang in, but we do need help. And we’re ready, as we always have been, to help others.”  

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