FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate and local officials testified on possible changes to the Stafford Act, the law that governs federal disaster response. 
The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act was enacted in 1988 and authorized various forms of federal assistance to state and local governments, certain nonprofit organizations, and individuals and households in the event of a presidentially-declared emergency or disaster. It has been significantly revised by the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 and the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006.