Trump wants to ‘remake’ Fema, not eliminate it, Kristi Noem says | Trump administration
Kristi Noem, the interior security secretary, said Donald Trump on Sunday wanted the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to be “redone” instead of being entirely eradicated.
In a new interview on Sunday with NBC, Noem defended the response from the Trump administration to the fatal floods of Texas who killed at least 120 people, saying: “I think that the president recognizes that FEMA should not exist as has always been.
Noem added: “I think he wants him to be redone so that it is an agency that is new in the way it unfolds and supports states.”
His comments followed generalized criticism of the Trump administration of Texas floods, reports, thousands of calls from flood survivors have remained unanswered by FEMA call centers due to unrivaled contracts.
Earlier this week, the New York Times reported that FEMA had not answered almost two thirds of calls to its assistance line in the event of a disaster. The point of sale also indicated that Noem, who had implemented a new policy which she signs personally on contracts of more than $ 100,000, has not renewed contracts only five days after their expiration in the midst of the floods.
Noem described reports as “false news”, saying: “This report must be validated. I am not sure that it is correct, and I do not know where it comes from, and the individuals who give you information on FEMA, I would like to have them put their names behind because the anonymous attacks to politicize the situation are completely false. “
Noem then admitted his policy to personally sign on contracts worth $ 100,000, saying: “It is not an additional paperwork, it is to ensure that everything arrives at my level, and that it immediately answered.”
She also praised FEMA’s response as a “best answer” for years to the floods of Texas, saying: “This answer was by far the best answer that we saw of FEMA, the best answer we have seen from the federal government in many years, and certainly much better than what we have seen under Joe Biden.”
Despite Noem’s defense of the agency and management by the Trump administration of the crisis, many criticized the FEMA because the reduced agency has experienced around 2,000 resignations and retirement since the inauguration of Trump.
Addressing The Guardian, Michael Coen, the former FEMA chief of staff, said: “I fear that FEMA will not be disadvantaged because they do not have the resources to respond to the disasters we know that we know, which could be two or three simultaneous disasters at the same time.
“FEMA eroded the capacity since President Trump became president. The staff left. There have been discounts to obtain programs and they will meet a financial challenge with the rescue fund in the event of a disaster, because the president did not ask for additional funding from the congress. ”
Since his entry into office, Trump has regularly threatened to dissolve the agency that was created by Jimmy Carter in 1979 following the United States to manage major disasters. In June, Trump said that he was planning to start “deleting” FEMA after the hurricane season and that states would receive federal aid to respond to natural disasters.
“We are going to give less money,” said Trump.
Last month, Noem also said that FEMA “was to fundamentally disappear as it exists,” adding that states should have more responsibilities when managing natural disasters.
However, since Texas has flooded, that the first major natural disaster of Mark Trump since his entry into office in January, the rhetoric of his administration on the elimination of FEMA seemed to change.
Earlier this week, when he was asked if he was still planning to eliminate the agency, Trump said it was a question “we can talk about later”. Likewise, the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told journalists that the federal government’s response to natural disasters was a “political discussion that will continue”.
