Sen. Peter Welch introduced legislation Thursday to reform federal disaster management with an eye toward more local control.
The Vermont Democrat expressed support for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, but said that long-term recovery efforts should be spearheaded by local governments.
His bill, the ‘‘Disaster Assistance Improvement and Decentralization (AID) Act,” looks to make it easier for local jurisdictions to secure federal funding and plan their own repairs.
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“The change that I want for FEMA is to have much more local authority, much more local empowerment, much more flexibility,” Welch told reporters Thursday.
