House attempt at bill revamping FEMA stalls

The House Homeland Security Committee abruptly called off a Wednesday afternoon briefing at which the panel was expected to announce a bipartisan consensus on how to best restructure the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Committee member Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Wash., said directions to cancel the briefing came "from Democratic leadership," and the move caught him off-guard.

A bill to overhaul FEMA is "just about written and ready to be dropped," Reichert said. "I'm told [there] was 100 percent agreement" among parties involved in crafting the bill.

A portion of the legislation made public by Reichert's office signals that the committee tentatively agreed to keep the agency under the Homeland Security Department's control, but rebuild it as the Directorate of Emergency Management, in keeping with recommendations released by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee late last week.

The House committee also appears to have agreed to give the new directorate's undersecretary of emergency management a direct line to the White House, echoing another recommendation from the Senate panel.

Reichert said his approach would differ from the Senate panel's in that, rather than "just blow [FEMA] up and start all over again," he and other committee members are seeking to rebuild the agency, under a different name and with expanded authority and directions to interact fluidly with state and local agencies.

The office of Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the ranking Democrat on the House committee, referred questions back to the panel's press office, which confirmed that the cancellation of the briefing came from Democrats.

There was no indication Wednesday afternoon of when the briefing, or the bill, would move forward again.