posted September 4, 2025- WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Wednesday, the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved Representative Rick Larsen’s bipartisan legislation to reform FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The Fixing Emergency Management for Americans (FEMA) Act of 2025 (H.R. 4669) provides the most robust legislative reform of FEMA and federal disaster assistance programs in decades. Rep. Larsen is the top Democrat on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

“As natural disasters become more frequent and severe, the FEMA Act of 2025 strengthens the Agency and ensures it has the tools to efficiently and effectively serve as a lifeline to disaster-impacted communities – like those in Northwest Washington state hit by the 2024 Bomb Cyclone,” said Rep. Larsen. “Thank you to Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO) for partnering on this important bill to reform FEMA. I hope this legislation moves quickly to the House floor for a vote.”

The FEMA Act of 2025 streamlines the federal government’s disaster response and recovery programs while also making FEMA a cabinet-level agency once again that is directly accountable to the President. The bill rewards effective state and local preparedness, protects taxpayers, cuts red tape, and ensures that relief efforts are fast, fair, and free from political bias.

The FEMA Act of 2025 also has the support of numerous emergency management stakeholders.

“I am grateful to Rep. Rick Larsen for his leadership, along with his colleagues on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, in pushing for FEMA reform,” said Snohomish County Public Utility District CEO John Haarlow in an Everett Herald op-ed. “The PUD strongly supports this bill because it delivers what our community needs most: faster relief, fairer treatment and a stronger foundation for the future… FEMA reform ensures that aid arrives more predictably, so families and businesses are not hit with higher bills after already enduring the hardship of an outage.”

John Haarlow’s full Everett Herald op-ed in support of the FEMA Act is available here and below.

The FEMA Act of 2025 was introduced by Rep. Larsen and Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Sam Graves; former Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management Subcommittee lead Rep. Daniel Webster (R-FL); and Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management Subcommittee Ranking Member Greg Stanton (D-AZ).

A detailed summary of the FEMA Act of 2025 can be found here. The full recording of the committee markup can be found here.