The House of Representatives passed H.R. 5641, the Small Project Efficient and Effective Disaster (SPEED) Recovery Act, a bipartisan bill advanced by the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

“In this era of climate crisis, no communities are safe from the potentially devastating impact of disasters,” said Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair Peter DeFazio (D-OR). “The SPEED Recovery Act will cut red tape and reduce the time it takes communities to receive critical assistance for small disaster recovery projects from FEMA. By updating the threshold for what qualifies as a small project, barriers to relief and recovery will be alleviated and so will the time it takes communities to get back on their feet post-disaster.”

“The SPEED Recovery Act is going to dramatically reduce the number of hoops communities have to jump through with FEMA to get much needed help.  Congress created an expedited process for small disaster recovery projects to get approved through FEMA, but the threshold for what qualifies as a ‘small project’ has fallen out of touch with reality.  Updating this threshold is going to reduce the burden of red tape on small communities and allow them to recover from disasters faster. This is a big win for rural America,” said Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Ranking Member Sam Graves (R-MO).

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