Greg Stanton Blasts Trump For ‘Spreading Misinformation’ About FEMA, Not Helping Those In Need

2 days ago

During a House Transportation Committee hearing on Tuesday, Rep. Brad Stanton (D-AZ) discussed President Trump’s remarks about the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

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Transcript

00:00Mr. Chair, thank you all for attending this important hearing titled Reforming FEMA,

00:04Bringing Common Sense Back to Emergency Management. I am the new ranking member of

00:08this subcommittee, and I take federal disaster assistance delivery very seriously,

00:14and I look forward to conducting oversight on FEMA's important work.

00:20FEMA is where Americans look for help, critical help after what is likely the worst day of their

00:28lives. So it is critical that the agency be postured to respond at all times. For most of

00:35its life, FEMA has been an apolitical entity, red state or blue state, it didn't matter.

00:42FEMA stayed focused on the mission to help all Americans and kept out of the political fray.

00:50Sadly, that is no longer the case today. Following the recent catastrophic disasters in

00:56California and South Carolina, President Trump has focused more on spreading misinformation

01:03than helping Americans in need. Specifically, after the tragic wildfires in Los Angeles,

01:10he threatened to condition disaster relief on policy matters that have nothing to do with

01:17emergency management. This is simply wrong and shakes the trust that Americans have in their

01:22government to come to their aid after catastrophe. That's what FEMA is all about. We should have a

01:29discussion about how to improve FEMA, but we should have a baseline. As a baseline, we should

01:36acknowledge the need that we have in a federal emergency management agency specifically there

01:40to help states and localities when an emergency goes beyond their ability to immediately deal

01:46with it. Yesterday, DHS Secretary Noem added to that uncertainty facing disaster survivors when

01:54she said that we're, quote, we're going to eliminate FEMA, unquote, in a presidential

01:59cabinet meeting. President Trump responded by saying, quote, great job, unquote. I will never

02:07support eliminating FEMA or conditioning aid for emergency disaster assistance. Whether a state is

02:14red or blue, they are American and they are entitled to the support of their fellow Americans

02:19on their worst day. So I condemn conditions to, I condemn calls to condition emergency disaster

02:25assistance in the strongest possible terms and urge elected leaders to never make such comments

02:32again. Unfortunately, threats to conditioning life-saving assistance is not the only partisan

02:38game happening at FEMA. In February, Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency entered

02:45FEMA and has been wreaking havoc ever since. They've accessed secure government systems

02:51that include disaster survivors' personal information and slowed the delivery of FEMA

02:56assistance. I'm deeply troubled to learn that all FEMA grants are now subject to additional review

03:02to ensure that they are complementary to President Trump's political agenda.

03:07And federal employees are living in fear that they will be fired if they approve the wrong

03:10grant payment. Federal employees should not be concerned about approving grant disbursements

03:15approved by this body, Congress, in a bipartisan way. In fact, it is the law that FEMA disperse

03:21payments that are mandated by Congress. Plain and simple, I will not stand by quietly if we

03:28see illegal action related to the disbursement of FEMA grants. The agency cannot violate the

03:33Impoundment Control Act. I'm deeply concerned that the influence of DOJ at FEMA, which contains

03:39no emergency management experts at DOJ, and that they're going to steer the agency in the direction

03:44of another Katrina. Prior to Hurricane Katrina, FEMA was overhauled and tucked into the Department

03:49of Homeland Security without proper consultation from professional emergency managers. FEMA was

03:54weakened by being subsumed in the DHS without proper consultation with emergency management

03:59professionals. The result was unnecessary, catastrophic loss of life, the worst in modern

04:07disaster history. We cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of the past. That said,

04:11reforming FEMA thoughtfully does not mean we should avoid change altogether. In Arizona,

04:16we know that FEMA can do better. Last summer, extreme heat caused temperatures in my district

04:21and that were nearly unlivable. We lost over 600 of our fellow citizens to extreme heat and

04:28extreme heat islands. We experienced unending 100-degree temperatures for over a month in the

04:33past. A break from the heat could be enjoyed during the night, but that is a luxury we no

04:38longer have. The heat in our state literally caused roads to crack, cars to melt, and hundreds

04:43of lives lost. However, FEMA was not to be found in Arizona because the agency has not yet adapted

04:48to emergency disasters like extreme heat. Heat is a silent killer. It advances quietly and lingers.

04:55The longer it lingers, the more devastating the impact. We must reform FEMA to address extreme

05:00heat. I look forward to working with the agency to ensure that they have the resources and authority

05:03they need to respond to disasters all across the country. I look forward to this important

05:09hearing and hearing from my colleagues. Mr. Chairman, I yield back.

Greg Stanton Blasts Trump For ‘Spreading Misinformation’ About FEMA, Not Helping Those In Need

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