This week, Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA-04) and Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL-17) announced that they have founded the bipartisan Natural Disaster Caucus.

Members of the Natural Disaster Caucus are dedicated to natural disaster preparation, response and relief.

Reps. Thompson and Steube will serve as co-chairs of the caucus, which will provide resources for members of Congress and their staff to help districts across our country prevent, prepare for, and respond to natural disasters.

“Every community across our country is at risk of natural disasters, whether it’s wildfires, hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, or other disasters. It just makes sense that we work together to improve the ways in which we prepare for disasters, respond to them, and ultimately deliver relief to survivors,” said Thompson. “It’s great to partner with my colleague Rep. Greg Steube to establish this bipartisan caucus to continue our work preventing and responding to disasters.”

“Millions of Americans are impacted every year by natural disasters. When trials come, our constituents deserve to know their leaders are working together on their behalf in order to help them rebuild. I am pleased to partner with my colleagues on the Natural Disaster Caucus to advance common sense policies that will better prepare our communities for when the next natural disaster strikes,” said Steube.

Natural disasters continue to impact Americans around the country. In 2024, there were 27 natural disasters in the United States, including droughts, floods, severe storms, cyclones, wildfires and winter storms.

These disasters led to over 500 deaths and incurred losses exceeding $180 billion.

The caucus founders said the nation must work to prepare for and respond to natural disasters to mitigate the widespread impacts.

Reps. Thompson and Steube founded the Natural Disaster Caucus following their successful effort to deliver disaster relief to survivors of wildfires in California’s Fourth District and hurricanes in Florida’s 17th District.

Last Spring, Rep. Thompson and Rep. Greg Steube (FL-17) led a bipartisan group of 218 Members of Congress to successfully advance a discharge petition which forced House Speaker Mike Johnson to bring their bill, the Federal Disaster Tax Relief Act, to the House floor for a vote.

The Federal Disaster Tax Relief Act supports the nearly 70,000 qualified survivors who suffered significant losses during three major federally declared California fires in 2015, 2017, and 2018 who received related settlement payments.

At the time, the historic advancement of Rep. Thompson and Rep. Steube’s petition marked only the third time a House discharge petition had succeeded in the 21st Century.

Their efforts succeeded as the Federal Disaster Tax Relief Act passed the Senate and was signed into law by President Biden at the end of 2024.

Thompson represents California’s Fourth Congressional District, which includes all or part of Lake, Napa, Solano, Sonoma and Yolo counties.