WASHINGTON — Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell faced questions from lawmakers for nearly five hours Tuesday about the federal government’s response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton, which caused catastrophic damage in the Southeast.
Criswell testified before the House Oversight Committee after appearing before a House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee earlier in the day.
House Republicans have questioned her about previous revelations that a temporary worker said higher-ups told her to skip houses with signs supporting Donald Trump in Florida. Criswell fired the employee, saying she found her actions “reprehensible.” The employee, Marn’i Washington, has claimed on Fox News and other news media that there was a directive from her superiors not to go to homes with Trump signs as a warning. way to avoid conflict.
Criswell told the Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee that FEMA later sent a team to provide assistance to residents of the 20 homes identified as skipped.
Three House committees are investigating the reports, including the Homeland Security Committee, which wants to speak with leaders in FEMA’s regional office.
“While today’s hearing will focus on FEMA, the issue at hand is part of a larger problem: the urgent need to hold the unelected, unaccountable federal workforce accountable to the American people and to the duly elected President of the United States,” said Oversight. Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky.
Comer said people in Highlands County, Florida, needed help “but at least one FEMA official used her power to make it harder to get help.”
“And FEMA leadership took no action against this regulator until the press exposed this discrimination,” he said. “More importantly, FEMA officials did not immediately end the discrimination.”
Criswell said in a statement this month that the employee’s directive on avoiding Trump-supporting homes was a “clear violation of FEMA’s core values and principles of helping people regardless of their political beliefs.”
Criswell said Tuesday in a call with Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., that FEMA is working with the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general to determine whether the incident is indicative of a broader pattern, although she added: “It Evidence I have seen so far indicates that this was an isolated incident.”
“It didn’t go beyond what this one employee did,” Criswell said.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, responded to Criswell’s comments by showing a screenshot of what appeared to be a text message to a crew team for instructions.
Along with the advice for FEMA workers not to go anywhere alone, to bring a towel and to drink water, one of the key points is: “Avoid homes that promote Trump.” Criswell reiterated that the incident is under investigation.
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody sued Criswell and Washington last week over the incident.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell surveys the damage caused by Hurricane Milton in St. Pete Beach, Florida, on October 13.
Congressional Democrats focused some of their questions Tuesday on the impact of newly elected President Donald Trump’s comments and conspiracy theories about FEMA and its response to the natural disasters. As a candidate, Trump spread false claims about FEMA disaster funds, claiming they were used for undocumented immigrants instead of helping people recover from the hurricane.
In his opening remarks, Oversight Committee member Jamie Raskin, D-Md., condemned FEMA’s worker directive as a “major mistake, legally and constitutionally,” but said the agency’s employees have been “forced to work under a cloud of propaganda and lies concocted to undermine the public’s trust in FEMA.”
On misinformation and disinformation, Criswell agreed with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., that “if someone thinks a FEMA official is coming to their house and taking their house, that is a situation that is escalating or potentially can be dangerous. getting violent over something that isn’t true.”
Criswell pointed to Chimney Rock, North Carolina, where, she said, “there were allegations that there were physical threats to our FEMA personnel as we temporarily moved all of our personnel to permanent locations.”
States are still reeling from the devastation caused by hurricanes this fall, and the Biden administration on Monday submitted a new funding request to Congress for nearly $100 billion for the government’s ongoing response.
More than 220 people were killed by Hurricane Helene, which hit Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina in late September. At least seventeen people died during Hurricane Milton, which hit Florida hard in early October.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
