Senate Passes Peters Bipartisan Bills to Simplify Application Process for Federal Disaster Assistance Programs

DETROIT, MI – The Senate passed two bipartisan bills authored by U.S. Senator Gary Peters (MI), Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, to streamline the application process for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) programs that assist individuals who have been impacted by severe storms, floods, wildfires, and more. The bills would establish a universal application across federal agencies for disaster survivors, and create one application deadline for two in-demand FEMA programs that individuals use for federal disaster assistance. The bills now move the House of Representatives for consideration.

“Duplicative and complicated application processes for federal disaster assistance are the last things families should have to worry about after having their lives upended by natural disaster,” said Senator Peters. “These bills will ensure that families in Michigan and across the nation can access the federal support they need to recover from extreme weather.”

Currently, individuals that seek federal aid to recover from a disaster must fill out separate and detailed applications depending on what agency they need help from – a process that can take weeks or even months. These burdensome applications can overwhelm some survivors, causing many to simply give up trying to access desperately needed assistance and pushing survivors beyond their breaking point. Peters’ Disaster Assistance Simplification Act amends the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to require FEMA to establish a universal disaster application across federal agencies for disaster survivors who are seeking federal recovery aid. The bill would allow FEMA to share information on disaster survivors with other federal agencies to simplify recovery efforts and reduce the burden on survivors after a disaster. The legislation would make FEMA the lead agency in implementing the universal disaster assistance application for disaster victims. Finally, the bill requires all information sharing practices to meet federal data security standards. 

FEMA’s Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA) and Individuals and Household Program (IHP) have different application deadlines, which can cause confusion for disaster survivors who may have trouble tracking when they need to apply for each program. Currently, the DUA deadline is 30 days and the IHP deadline is 60 days after a federal disaster declaration. Peters’ bipartisan Disaster Assistance Deadlines Alignment Act would help reduce confusion for disaster survivors by requiring at least 60 days for survivors to submit applications for both the DUA and IHP programs.

As Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Peters has led several efforts to strengthen our federal disaster preparedness and response. Peters secured $500 million in funding as part of the bipartisan infrastructure bill for a program he created to help states establish revolving loan programs for local governments to carry out mitigation projects that reduce the risk of shoreline erosion, extreme flooding, and other natural disasters. Peters’ bipartisan legislation to protect FEMA Reservists from losing their full-time employment when they are called up to assist communities with disaster response was also signed into law. Finally, Peters’ bill to help protect pets and other animals during and in the aftermath of natural disasters and emergencies was also signed into law.

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