Twenty years after the storm, Katrina destroyed New Orleans, 1,392 killing people And raising serious questions about the country’s ability to handle natural disasters, current and former employees in the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), says the Trump administration is leading the emergency management policy.
The nation dramatically replaced its emergency response policies after the devastating floods in New Orleans, including the law in the name of the storm, known as the Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act (PKEMRA).
Now the Trump administration is demanding new changes in FEMA, the states should be given more power and money. President Trump has discussed Full fetaHowever, the authorities have dramatically shifted their tone and in recent months Emphasized reformsInstead of a closure.
Even those calls have raised concerns over pushbacks from Capital Hill and East FEMA employees.
A group of current and former agency employees A letter issued This week said that “FEMA is implementing processes and leadership structures that echo the conditions designed to prevent Pkemra.”
One of the employees signing the letter, Jennifer Forester said the biggest issue he has seen is inadequate staff as the administration wants to reduce the size of the federal government, including FEMA.
Forester said, “We have lost a lot of invaluable institutional knowledge. We have lost a lot of workers, who knew a lot about how things work, how much daily things do day-to-day things work, which had good work-working relations with the institutions outside,” said that Forester was on leave after publicly signing the letter.
There are news outlets Reported FEMA is below About 2,000 employees, or a third of the agency’s permanent workforce, since President Trump took over.
FEMA spokesperson Daniel Larguz said in a written statement that the agency “is working to prioritize accountability and reform, so that the taxpayers are actually working to reach out to those and communities they are to help.”
“It is not surprising that some similar bureaucrats presiding over decades inability are now objecting to reforms. Change is always difficult. It is especially for people invested in the status quo. But our obligation is for the remaining people, not to protect broken systems.”
The Trump administration is considering extensive reforms in the agency, which has been established through a FEMA Review Council.
This week, during a meeting of that council, Homeland Security Secretary Christie Nom said that the administration was considering shortening the window for postdister funding.
“The President believes that we should be in a disaster response portfolio and footprint, but the long -term mitigation should not happen that the federal government is joining to the extent that it has been in the past,” he said.
Forester told The Hill that the comment about eliminating the agency is contributing to the “Culture of Enmity” that encourages people to leave.
Employees’ letters also criticized a policy change, which should approve a grant and contract of over $ 100,000 by NOEM before releasing, which he said “reduces FEMA officials and abilities and rapidly distributes our mission.”
Cameron Hamilton, who briefly led FEMA under another Trump administration Until he was firedSaid that under this administration, the agency has not become more efficient.
“Stating that @Fema is working more efficiently, and cut off red tape is either: unexpected about the management of disasters; misled by public authorities; or lie to American … to the public,” Said in a social media postHaemilton was fired After telling the Congress that he did not think the agency Should be eliminated,
“FEMA is saving money that is good due to astronomical American debt from the Congress. Despite this, FEMA employees are now replying to the bureaucracy, which is lengthening the waiting time for the claim recipients, and delaying the deployment of time sensitive resources,” Hamilton said.
Homeland Security Department spokesman Trisia McLaglin, who oversees FEMA, stated the hill in a statement that NOEM “personally reviews and approves any contract above $ 100,000.”
“This process rescued US taxpayers from an additional $ 10.7 billion. Since assuming office, Secretary NOEM has reviewed more than 5,000 contracts and reviewed all contracts within 24 hours,” McLaglin said.
Lynn Buddha, president of the National Emergency Management Association, said that she was watching more about the recession in administration earlier in administration. When funding was being stoppedBut those things were returning normally.
“We are currently looking at a more common rhythm as far as our reimbursement is concerned,” Buddha said, which also directs the Vyaming Office of Homeland Security.
“There was a complete stop for reimbursement in the very beginning,” he said. “We are … seeing that now go back to normal.”
For the prevention of public safety and crime at the National League of Cities, Legislative Director Yukel ORS told Hill that his organization did not have a “comprehensive evaluation” of how the elevated review policy is affecting the local government, but “Many local leaders have reported a delay in getting reimbursement.”
Another signatoror of the letter, a former FEMA employee Michael Coen, said he believes that the biggest issue facing the agency is “not a leader who has experience in emergency management.”
“Any person with experience in emergency management would know the correct question to ensure that they are at risk to support the communities that are at risk,” Coon said, who was the Chief of Staff of FEMA during Biden and Obama administration.
Post-Catarina Emergency Management Reforms Act FEMA established as a separate unit within the Department of Homeland Security, determines the qualifications and responsibilities for the FEMA Administrator, and creates a regional office for the agency and other roles, including a director for preparation and a director for response and recovery.
The major storms and deaths arising from this are still bigger to the world not only in the world of emergency management. Netflix is also A new documentary issued About it.
“We have traveled a long way” because Katrina said, Koen said.
He said that those who wrote to this week’s letter, “Hope there is another Katrina in the country and this FEMA fails again, as it results in loss of life which could have been avoided.”
