FEMA Chief on the Congressional Hotseat Trying to Explain Why the Agency

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Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Deanne Criswell was grilled by the House Oversight and Accountability Committee on Tuesday over accusations made by a fired employee that FEMA staff was ordered to avoid homes with Trump signs and flags in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton.

The employee, field supervisor Marn’i Washington, told Dan Abrams on NewsNation, “So firstly, I’m being framed. There’s no violation of the Hatch Act. I was simply following orders.”

“I execute orders. I don’t create policy. I do not reinvent the wheel. My record shows that,” she added later.

Criswell, who also testified before the House Transportation Committee’s Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management on Tuesday, continues to insist that the orders to bypass the homes of Trump supporters were “an isolated incident” and did not reflect FEMA policy guidelines.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) had the receipts. He showed the committee text messages to FEMA employees being told to “avoid homes advertising Trump.”

“We do have the text message itself, but you’re still saying, Miss Washington and this other person aren’t telling the truth?” Jordan pressed.

Criswell responded, “That is nowhere in our policy.”

ABC News:

Criswell told lawmakers she had requested an inspector general investigation into the incident and reassured them there would be no cover-up or obstruction.

When asked if she had spoken to the 13 people included on the text message, Criswell said she had not.

“This is part of a mindset that’s in government. This is the scary part, because I think it’s broader,” Jordan said.

The FEMA administrator told lawmakers that the incident occurred in late October, and came to her attention on Nov. 7, she requested additional information and by Nov. 9, she recommended Washington’s termination.

“I do not believe there is a widespread cultural problem,” Criswell said after being asked if there was a larger issue of political bias at FEMA.

Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) couldn’t believe that FEMA would ever, ever, evah pull a partisan stunt like that.

“I just find it bizarre that we’re even having this hearing,” said Stansbury. Obviously, Trump supporters deserve to be ignored, so what’s the point of holding a hearing?

However, Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) blamed deeper issues within FEMA on the size of the bureaucracy within its parent department, the Department of Homeland Security, saying that “this is not new, this has been going on for a while, it happened during the Trump administration.”

“FEMA can’t make the changes you want them to make, Homeland won’t let them because there’s 30 people around a table,” he added.

FEMA is a poster child for “mission creep.” When the agency was created in 1979, it was originally supposed to be an adjunct to state disaster relief efforts. FEMA bureaucrats would show up a few weeks after the disaster to help people fill out forms to get relief funds.

Bill Clinton made FEMA into a one-stop disaster relief shop. As a result, its budget has grown to $20 billion in FY2024. And because of the number of disasters in 2024, FEMA is asking for an additional $40 billion.

The Dispatch:

It’s a huge amount of money, covering not only FEMA’s main spending outlays—quick-response disaster relief efforts, aid to individuals, and grants to communities repairing and rebuilding infrastructure—but also disaster recovery programs for farmers, infrastructure repair efforts led by the Department of Transportation, and disaster loans to homeowners, renters, and nonprofits.

Reluctance to enter places where you are not welcome is no excuse for failing to help people who desperately need it. Of course, people are angry and fearful. They’ve lost everything. They have no food or clean water and feel abandoned when pencil pushers show up asking them to fill out some forms. It doesn’t help that the victims of these storms feel abandoned because they’re in a situation where minutes seem like hours and you don’t know if anyone will ever come.

And now FEMA avoids them because of their political leanings? It’s not just incomprehensible. It’s inhuman.