A senior congressional analyst told lawmakers Tuesday that problems with federal disaster aid stem primarily from a torturous system of getting money to states.
“The root cause is that the process is too complicated,” Chris Currie, director of the Government Accountability Office’s homeland security and justice team, told a House panel. “There’s too many rules and overlapping requirements.”
Currie’s assessment of disaster aid provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency came as Congress held its second hearing on overhauling the agency, which President Donald Trump has sharply criticized and suggested abolishing.
But he also cast doubt on one potential solution suggested by Trump. Currie said agency problems cannot be solved simply by having FEMA give states block grants for disaster recovery, instead of reimbursing them for their recovery costs.
