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 this morning and is now testifying before the House Oversight Committee this afternoon.
The FEMA head was to be grilled by House Republicans on reports that an agency employee said she was instructed by superiors to avoid Florida homes with Trump signs. The employee was fired by Criswell, who stated that she thought the employee’s behavior was unacceptable. However, the employee, Marn i. Washington, has claimed on Fox News and other media that she was told by her bosses not to visit residences bearing Trump signs in order to prevent confrontation.
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 in his written remarks 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 says. More significantly, the discrimination was not immediately stopped by FEMA officials.
FEMA’s essential beliefs and principles to help individuals regardless of their political affiliation were “clearly violated” by Washington’s directive regarding Trump’s support for homes, according to a statement released earlier this month by Criswell.
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 response to the natural disasters could be the main topic of Democratic inquiry. 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.
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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