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Taxpayers have spent considerable resources on these programs and mitigation projects.
According to the Congressional Research Service, the federal government has spent more than
$11.4 billion on the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program between 1989 and 2014, and $7.8 billion of
that was spent since 2003. 581 CRS also estimated that, since 2003, $3.4 billion in public
assistance funds awarded have been spent on mitigation projects. 582
Supporters of FEMA’s mitigation spending and programs point to a 2005 FEMAcommissioned
study which evaluated whether mitigation activities decrease future
expenditures, and found that a dollar spent on mitigation results in four dollars saved in disaster
spending. 583 However, Congress, the Department, and other watchdogs should study whether
spending on mitigation projects have in fact yielded savings after FEMA has spent billions on
these projects. For example, if spending on mitigation activities were indeed making the nation
significantly more prepared for disasters and yielding significant savings, Congress should
consider why states, localities, and private citizens are not prioritizing spending on these
projects, and instead are reliant on the federal government to pay for these projects.
Congress should reconsider whether FEMA’s spending on mitigation programs is
necessary, effective, or even duplicative of other federal initiatives. At the very least, it should
end the Pre-Disaster Mitigation Program. The current administration has proposed eliminating
funding for the Pre-Disaster Mitigation Program, pointing to the existence of other mitigation
spending within DHS, according to the Congressional Research Service. 584 The Administration
also created a new competitive grant program for mitigation projects within the Department of
Housing and Urban Development, raising the question of whether FEMA’s programs are
duplicative of other efforts. 585
581 Fran McCarthy, “FEMA Mitigation Spending,” Congressional Research Service, Memorandum to the Senate
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, December 18, 2014.
582 Ibid.
583 “Natural Hazard Mitigation Saves: An Independent Study to Assess the Future Savings from Mitigation
Activities. Volume 1 – Findings, Conclusions, and Recommendations,” Multihazard Mitigation Council, National
Institute of Building Science, 2005.
584 Francis X. McCarthy, “FEMA’s Pre-Disaster Mitigation Program: Overview and Issues,” Congressional Research
Service, August 27, 2014.
585 Ibid.
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