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Nomination of W. Craig Fugate Hearing S. Hrg. 111–677 NOMINATION OF W. CRAIG FUGATE HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS UNITED STATES SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION NOMINATION OF W. CRAIG FUGATE TO BE ADMINISTRATOR, FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOME- LAND SECURITY APRIL 22, 2009 Available via http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/index.html Printed for the use of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 50–388 PDF WASHINGTON : 2010 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, http://bookstore.gpo.gov. For more information, contact the GPO Customer Contact Center, U.S. Government Printing Office. Phone 202–512–1800, or 866–512–1800 (toll-free). E-mail, [email protected]. VerDate Nov 24 2008 08:16 Nov 02, 2010 Jkt 050388 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 P:\DOCS\50388.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: PAT ph44585 on D330-44585-7600 with DISTILLER COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut, Chairman CARL LEVIN, Michigan SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii TOM COBURN, Oklahoma THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina JON TESTER, Montana ROBERT F. BENNETT, Utah ROLAND W. BURRIS, Illinois MICHAEL F. BENNET, Colorado MICHAEL L. ALEXANDER, Staff Director MARY BETH SCHULTZ, Counsel KRISTINE V. LAM, Professional Staff Member BRANDON L. MILHORN, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel ASHA A. MATHEW, Minority Senior Counsel JENNIFER L. TARR, Minority Counsel TRINA DRIESSNACK TYRER, Chief Clerk PATRICIA R. HOGAN, Publications Clerk and GPO Detailee LAURA W. KILBRIDE, Hearing Clerk (II) VerDate Nov 24 2008 08:16 Nov 02, 2010 Jkt 050388 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 P:\DOCS\50388.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: PAT ph44585 on D330-44585-7600 with DISTILLER C O N T E N T S Opening statements: Page Senator Lieberman ........................................................................................... 1 Senator Collins ................................................................................................. 4 Senator Landrieu .............................................................................................. 13 Senator Carper ................................................................................................. 16 Senator Akaka .................................................................................................. 19 Senator Burris .................................................................................................. 21 Prepared statements: Senator Lieberman ........................................................................................... 25 Senator Collins ................................................................................................. 26 Senator Akaka .................................................................................................. 27 WITNESSES WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2009 Hon. Mel Martinez, a U.S. Senator from the State of Florida ............................. 1 Hon. Bill Nelson, a U.S. Senator from the State of Florida ................................. 5 W. Craig Fugate to be Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agen- cy, U.S. Department of Homeland Security ....................................................... 7 ALPHABETICAL LIST OF WITNESSES Fugate, W. Craig: Testimony .......................................................................................................... 7 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 29 Biographical and financial information .......................................................... 33 Responses to pre-hearing questions ................................................................ 43 Letter from the Office of Government Ethics with an attached letter ......... 110 Responses to post-hearing questions for the Record ..................................... 112 Letters of Support ............................................................................................. 142 Martinez, Hon. Mel: Testimony .......................................................................................................... 1 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 28 Nelson, Hon. Bill: Testimony .......................................................................................................... 5 (III) VerDate Nov 24 2008 08:16 Nov 02, 2010 Jkt 050388 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 P:\DOCS\50388.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: PAT ph44585 on D330-44585-7600 with DISTILLER VerDate Nov 24 2008 08:16 Nov 02, 2010 Jkt 050388 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 P:\DOCS\50388.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: PAT ph44585 on D330-44585-7600 with DISTILLER NOMINATION OF W. CRAIG FUGATE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2009 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS, Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:05 a.m., in room SD–342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Joseph I. Lieberman, Chairman of the Committee, presiding. Present: Senators Lieberman, Akaka, Carper, Landrieu, Burris, and Collins. OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR LIEBERMAN Chairman LIEBERMAN. Good morning. The hearing will now come to order. Today, our Committee will consider the nomination of W. Craig Fugate to be Administrator of the Federal Emergency Man- agement Agency (FEMA). Mr. Fugate, I welcome you here this morning, and I particularly want to welcome our friend Senator Mel Martinez, who will be in- troducing you. Senator Martinez, if you are under a time pressure, I would be happy to have you go ahead right now. Senator MARTINEZ. That would be wonderful. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Chairman LIEBERMAN. I know you would like to hear the opening statements that Senator Collins and I are going to offer, but—— Senator MARTINEZ. I will be reading them later. Chairman LIEBERMAN. All right. [Laughter.] Very good, my friend. Please proceed. TESTIMONY OF HON. MEL MARTINEZ, A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF FLORIDA Senator MARTINEZ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Senator Col- lins. I am really honored to be here today to introduce to you a great Floridian, and I am really proud that he will be serving our country. He is Craig Fugate, who is the Director of the Florida Di- vision of Emergency Management. All Floridians have benefited from Mr. Fugate’s leadership, and I am pleased to know that he will soon be serving all Americans at the national level as the next Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In my view, there is no more qualified person for the job. Anyone who has worked with Mr. Fugate—and I have at the local, State, and national levels—will tell you that he has forgotten more about emergency management than most people will ever (1) VerDate Nov 24 2008 08:16 Nov 02, 2010 Jkt 050388 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\50388.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: PAT ph44585 on D330-44585-7600 with DISTILLER 2 know in a lifetime. That is because he has spent most of his life- time working at all levels in this field. As a volunteer firefighter, a paramedic, and later a lieutenant with the Alachua County Fire Department, he spent the early part of his life at the local level and ended up serving as the county’s emergency manager. In 1997, Mr. Fugate was promoted to the State level as Chief of the Bureau of Preparedness and Response with the Florida Divi- sion of Emergency Management, and in this role, he helped to build what has become the model emergency management program for the Nation. He has helped to manage the response to major floods, tornados, wildfires, and hurricanes. One hurricane, Hurri- cane Georges, resulted in more than 200 days of activation for the State Emergency Response Team. In October 2001, former Governor Jeb Bush elevated Mr. Fugate as Director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management. As you might imagine, preparing for hurricanes and dealing with the aftermath is a way of life for us in Florida, but rarely has Florida, let alone any other State or region, for that matter, been impacted by as many storms as we saw during the 2004—as I was running for the Senate, as a matter of fact—and 2005 seasons. In total, three tropical storms and eight hurricanes made landfall, including Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan, Jeanne, Dennis, Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. Despite the constant threat of these storms, Floridians were prepared and the State was ready to respond, and that is in no small measure thanks to Director Fugate’s steady leadership. Throughout this time as Director, Mr. Fugate managed 23 de- clared State emergencies, including 11 presidentially declared dis- asters, requiring more than $4.5 billion in Federal assistance. It was his tremendous ability to coordinate disaster response, recov- ery, preparedness, and mitigation efforts with each of the 67 coun- ties and local governments that earned him reappointment after Governor Charlie Crist was elected governor in 2006. Although we, in Florida, will be sad to see him leave, our Nation needs him, and we continue to look forward to working with him to improve our national response to disasters. I want to thank Mr. Fugate for all that he has given in service to Florida, and I would urge my colleagues to give him a swift con- firmation so that he can be our next FEMA Administrator.
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