WASHINGTON (Jan. 30, 2013) —  SmarterSafer.org will host an 11 a.m. conference call on Thursday, Jan. 31 to introduce its new Disaster Assistance Framework and discuss how Congress can pursue a holistic approach to improve federal disaster response.

The federal government continues to address natural disasters after they occur in an ad-hoc, one-off, inadequately coordinated way.  The result is that disaster-funding decisions are made with insufficient time and political will to weigh concerns about long-term safety, mitigation and resiliency.  Disaster preparedness and assistance should not be political.  Federal resources should be used to reduce risk to Americans in high-risk areas, avoid harming natural buffers to storms, and protect taxpayers from wasteful and inefficient spending.

Who:        Steve Ellis, vice president, Taxpayers for Common Sense

Matt Gannon, assistant vice president, National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies

R.J. Lehmann, senior fellow and public affairs director, R Street Institute

Joshua Saks, legislative director, National Wildlife Federation

John Seebach, senior director of federal river management, American Rivers

When:  11 a.m. EST; Thursday, Jan. 31

Dial in:  (800) 977-8002; Direct dial (404) 920-6550; Code: 4634362#

Contact: Matt Englehart at (202) 415-5313

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