FEMA chief Deanne Criswell will appear for two hearings about the agency's response to hurricanes and accusations of a political bias in delivering aid.
The leader of the Federal Emergency Management Agency is expected to be grilled by House lawmakers on Tuesday amid a controversy about the agency’s response to two hurricanes that battered the Southeast U.S. and a budget shortfall for the rest of the year that Congress will need to patch in its lame duck session.
FEMA has been caught in the middle of a political firestorm since the two hurricanes, which came as the presidential campaign was in full effect, over accusations that it wasn’t doing enough to help Americans recover and reports of some workers being instructed to skip homes that displayed yard signs or flags supporting Trump.
FEMA temporarily paused outreach efforts in North Carolina as its workers were facing numerous threats, including an incident in the state that authorities said led to the arrest of a man armed with a handgun and a rifle who had allegedly threatened workers.over what Criswell described as “reprehensible” behavior that was a "clear violation of FEMA's core values and principles to help people regardless of their political affiliation.
“What I'd like for the American people to know is before I even deployed to Florida, that this was the work culture there. I was on two teams in Florida and the first team, when I arrived, they were implementing avoidance and de-escalation and unfortunately that trend ran with those Trump campaign signs,” Washington said on CNN. “I don't create policy, FEMA does. I just implement it in the field.
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