Washington House legislators are questioning Deanne Criswell, the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, on Tuesday over the federal government’s response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton, which devastated the Southeast.
Criswell appeared before a House Transportation and Infrastructure panel earlier in the day and is now testifying before the House Oversight Committee.
The FEMA chief is being questioned by House Republicans on earlier disclosures that an agency employee said she was instructed by superiors to avoid Florida homes bearing Trump-supporting placards. However, the worker, Marn i. Washington, has gone on Fox News and other news sources to claim that her bosses ordered her not to visit homes with Trump signs in order to prevent conflict. Criswell fired the employee and stated that she thought the employee’s actions were despicable.
FEMA eventually dispatched a crew to help occupants of the 20 properties that were recognized as being skipped over, Criswell told the Transportation and Infrastructure panel.
The House Homeland Security Committee, one of three House committees looking into the reports, is interested in meeting with FEMA regional office heads.
House Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., stated that although the hearing today will concentrate on FEMA, the matter at hand is a component of a broader issue: the pressing need to hold the unelected, unaccountable federal workforce accountable to the American people and the duly elected President of the United States.
According to Comer, at least one FEMA administrator used her position of authority to make it more difficult for residents of Highlands County, Florida, to seek assistance.
And it wasn’t until the media revealed this discrimination that FEMA leadership took action against this supervisor,” he said. More significantly, the discrimination was not immediately stopped by FEMA officials.
Criswell said in a statement this month that the employee’s instruction to stay away from households that support Trump was a “blatant disregard for FEMA’s basic principles and values to assist individuals regardless of their political affiliation.”
Ashley Moody, the attorney general of Florida, sued Criswell and Washington last week for the incident.
The impact of President-elect Donald Trump’s comments and conspiracy theories about FEMA and its reaction to the natural disasters has been a topic of some of the Democrats’ interrogation. During his campaign, Trump disseminated misleading information regarding FEMA’s disaster funds, alleging that they were being utilized to support undocumented immigrants rather than helping people recover from the hurricane.
House Oversight ranking member Jamie Raskin, D-Md., in his opening remarks Tuesday denounced the FEMA employee’s directive as a grave legal and constitutional error, but he also claimed that the agency’s employees have been forced to operate under a veil of lies and propaganda designed to undermine public confidence in FEMA.
While the evidence I have seen so far indicates that this was an isolated incident, Criswell stated in a conversation with Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., that FEMA is collaborating with the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security to ascertain whether the incident is representative of a larger pattern.
According to Criswell, it hasn’t gone beyond what this one employee did.
In response to Criswell’s comments, Ohio Representative Jim Jordan, a Republican, displayed a screen grab of what looked to be a text message asking for orders from a crew team.
One of the bullet points advises FEMA employees to avoid homes that promote Trump, along with the other tips to never go anyplace alone, pack a towel, and drink plenty of water. Criswell restated that an investigation is being conducted into the incident.
The Biden administration on Monday sent a new request for over $100 billion in financing to Congress for the government’s continued response to the hurricanes that devastated states this autumn.
Hurricane Helen struck Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina in late September, killing over 220 people. Hurricane Milton, which struck Florida hard in early October, claimed the lives of at least 17.
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