Two Democratic senators want the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General to launch an investigation into Secretary Kristi Noem’s cost-control measures — and how the policy may have affected FEMA’s response to devastating flooding in Texas that left more than 120 people dead.
The letter from Sens. Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, first obtained by POLITICO and sent on Monday, references a sweeping rule Noem has implemented at DHS — which oversees FEMA — requiring every contract and grant over $100,000 to have her approval before the funds can be released. In the aftermath of the Texas flooding this month, reports have suggested the policy created obstacles to FEMA’s response, leaving it unable to pre-position certain resources and quickly activate certain response teams.
“The American people deserve answers and more importantly, they deserve accountability. While we are still waiting for all the facts to come out, what is clear is that FEMA must be able to respond to disasters immediately,” the letter said. “A disaster response system that must wait for one official’s signature is unacceptable and designed to fail.”
Noem has forcefully pushed back against suggestions that her leadership slowed the federal response, calling the anonymously sourced stories “completely wrong.” She said the cost-cutting policy that required her sign-off was “an accountability on contracts that go forward.”
“The response time was immediate,” Noem told NBC’s Kristen Welker in an interview that aired Sunday on “Meet the Press.” “And if you talk to anyone in Texas that was there, that was a part of this operation, they would say the federal government and President Trump immediately responded.”
The criticism comes as the agency balances months of attacks from Trump — who has threatened to eliminate it— with its response to one of the deadliest floods in the country’s history. He has since praised the agency’s response, while Noem has said the president doesn’t want to cease operations but recognizes FEMA “should not exist the way that it always has been.”