Missouri has been hit hard by natural disasters this year, and I have been fighting tooth and nail in Washington, D.C. to ensure Missourians get the federal resources they need to recover. Between the tornadoes that struck eight different counties in April, storms and flooding across 34 counties in June, and the flash floods that hit six counties in the 8^th District in July, Missouri has had three separate federal disaster declarations in a single year. These tragedies have touched nearly every corner of our state and caused tens of millions of dollars in damage. In the blink of an eye, these natural disasters took homes from families, schools from students, and churches from communities.

Last year, an EF2 tornado tore through Perryville High School, collapsing part of the building and forcing students into tents and temporary classrooms ever since. I saw how devastating the wreckage was firsthand, and I refused to sit idly by while this community worked to recover. When Perry County School District began applying for federal relief, I pressed the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, to ensure that PCSD received that relief. This week, that work paid off, as FEMA announced $22.4 million in Public Assistance funding will be awarded to help rebuild the school.

But rebuilding a school is only part of the fight. We also have to make sure the federal government doesn’t punish those who are working to recover after a disaster in the first place. As Chairman, I made that a priority for our committee, and we delivered twice.

When a natural disaster hits, victims are granted a postponed deadline to pay the IRS what they owe in taxes. But the IRS’s automated system was sending collection notices threatening these victims with penalties before their postponed deadlines had even arrived. In 2023 alone, more than a million of these notices went out in error to people already struggling to get back on their feet. That’s unacceptable. Last December, my committee passed the Disaster Related Extension of Deadlines Act into law, which made sure a postponed deadline actually means postponed and tax filers get the extra time they deserve.

Then, just this month, President Trump signed the Doug LaMalfa Federal Disaster Tax Relief Certainty Act into law — legislation I fought to advance through my committee, named after our late colleague who spent years championing disaster victims. It lets victims deduct disaster losses above $500 on their taxes without having to itemize them, and scraps an old rule that only let folks write off losses above 10 percent of their income. I saw the scale of the loss firsthand when I toured the flood damage in Reynolds and Iron Counties this summer — families who lost everything with no flood insurance to fall back on. Now, thanks to the legislation I passed through the Ways and Means Committee, every Missourian hit by this year’s tornadoes, storms, and floods qualifies for that relief.

Both bills passed my committee without a single opposing vote. When families are standing in what’s left of their homes, schools, and churches, helping them shouldn’t be a partisan debate, and under my chairmanship, it hasn’t been.

I’ll keep pressing FEMA, the IRS, and every federal agency that touches disaster recovery to move faster and cut the red tape that gets in the way as people are trying to rebuild their lives. When communities are hit with natural disasters, the federal government should lend them a hand without making them jump through hoops. As Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, that’s what I’ve fought to ensure, and I’ll keep working to build a safety net that’s ready for whatever disaster comes next.