The Federal Emergency Management Agency would cease to exist — to be replaced by an agency supporters say would have a greater ability to plan for disasters — if an amendment to the domestic security budget bill approved July 11 by the Senate is approved by the House. The proposal comes in the wake of the seven-month Senate investigation that criticized FEMA for its response to Hurricane Katrina.

The Senate’s action would create the U.S. Emergency Management Authority to replace FEMA. While the new agency would remain within the Department of Homeland Security, in times of major disasters it would report directly to the president.

Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.), who co-sponsored the legislation to change the agency, said the agency’s performance after Hurricane Katrina last year was such a national embarrassment that the federal government had no option but to abolish it and replace it with an agency that had new powers and a new name.

The Senate bill also would reunite agencies assigned to help prepare for disasters or terrorist attacks with those that respond and help cities or states recover from them, functions that now are split in different parts of DHS. It also would require creation of larger, better-staffed regional emergency management offices for the new Emergency Management Authority.

But even as the Senate measure found easy passage in a vote of 87-11, its fate in the House is uncertain. Turf battles within the House have some factions backing a return of FEMA to the status of an independent agency, while others argue that keeping FEMA where it is gives it better access to resources.