ICYMI: Kristi Noem’s Disastrous Week Leading FEMA
How the administration’s plan to gut FEMA collapsed in 48 hours:
FIRST: Experts and advocates had been raising the alarm about the FEMA Review Council’s direction for weeks, including Sabotaging Our Safety, which sent a letter demanding FEMA become an independent cabinet-level agency following a year of incompetence and politicization that left millions facing disasters in danger.
THEN: On Wednesday, a leaked report exposed the council’s devastating plans to gut FEMA, slashing the workforce in half and forcing mass relocations out of Washington, D.C.
THEN: Facing a firestorm of criticism, Noem and the White House ran from accountability. Thursday’s meeting was abruptly cancelled at the last minute – a humiliating admission that they know their plans are politically toxic. As Sabotaging Our Safety’s Rafael Lemaitre told Fox 13 Tampa Bay, “This is a catastrophic rollout to a catastrophic political leadership of DHS and FEMA.”
NOW: The fate of FEMA remains unclear. The release date for the final report is unknown as the administration scrambles to manage the fallout from their chaotic and reckless approach. This is exactly why many are demanding FEMA be removed from Noem’s mismanagement and protected from political games.
See coverage from Noem’s chaotic week below:
Fox 13 Tampa Bay: FEMA meeting canceled after Tampa mayor traveled to Washington
"This is a catastrophic rollout to a catastrophic political leadership of DHS and FEMA," said Rafael Lemaitre, a member of a group called, "Sabotaging our Safety," which opposes the proposed changes to FEMA. "It really shows how they're facing immense blowback from Congress and from probably states and emergency managers across the country who are looking at the leaked details of this report and seeing that this is not a feasible way to protect the United States against disasters."
The Hill: Roadmap for Trump’s FEMA reforms set for release Thursday
Rafael Lemaitre, who was FEMA’s public affairs director during the Obama administration, told The Hill he’s watching to see what the report says, if anything, on issues including FEMA’s individual assistance program, through which it provides financial assistance to disaster survivors, as well as what it will say, if anything, on staffing levels.
“I worry about that because I don’t know what capacity each individual state will have to provide that kind of money or support as quickly as FEMA can,” Lemaitre said of the individual assistance program.
CNN: Trump’s FEMA council to recommend dramatic downsizing and overhaul – but not elimination – of the agency
The long-awaited report is the product of months of closed-door debate and political wrangling. Perhaps the most contentious recommendation is to keep FEMA under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security.
Several agency veterans, state officials, and even some council members argued that FEMA should have greater independence. Public comments also overwhelmingly favored an independent FEMA, according to three sources familiar with the discussions.
But Noem, who co-chairs the council and opposed moving FEMA, prevailed. The final report recommends leaving FEMA under DHS, preserving Noem’s influence over its $25 billion budget.
NOTUS: FEMA Task Force Meeting Canceled Minutes Before It Was Set to Begin
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem left a House hearing on worldwide threats early on Thursday to attend a meeting about the future of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, drawing the ire of Democrats in the hearing room who were grilling her on President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda.
The FEMA Review Council meeting was then abruptly canceled minutes before it was set to begin. FEMA referred questions about the meeting’s cancellation to the White House.
The meeting’s cancellation comes amid growing tensions between the White House and Noem over her handling of FEMA, according to several sources familiar with the issue.
