FEMA’s DEI Spending Under Scrutiny

FEMA on the ground after Hurricane Helene

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is facing scrutiny for its spending on diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

Lawmakers at a House Oversight Committee hearing Tuesday pressed FEMA head Deanne Criswell on FEMA’s DEI spending.

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Analysis: Helene Gave Way to ‘Hurricane SNAFU’ in the Carolinas

FEMA Worker

It wasn’t as if the Tar Heel state didn’t see Hurricane Helene coming. On Sept. 25, one day before Helene stormed ashore, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency as the storm’s path showed it churning northward toward Appalachia after making landfall in Florida.

Yet that advance declaration was not followed by any state evacuation orders, and the population largely sheltered in place as Helene hit the steep, wooded hills of western North Carolina, squatting over the area, unleashing more than an inch of water an hour for more than a day. The unprecedented, relentless downpour, falling on ground already saturated by rain the week before, tore old pines and hardwoods out by the roots, creating arboreal torpedoes that rocketed down the steep inclines; water that turned photogenic stony creeks into whitewater torrents, lifting ancient streambed boulders and tossing them like chips on to roads and into homes and buildings. The storm left 230 people dead, nearly half of them in North Carolina, with dozens still missing as of early November.

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Florida Sues Former FEMA Officials over Hurricane Helene, Milton Failures

Ashley Moody

The state of Florida is suing current and former federal employees personally for allegedly ignoring storm victim households solely because of their political affiliation.

Attorney General Ashley Moody sued current and former Federal Emergency Management Agency officials for “conspiracy to discriminate” against Florida hurricane victims because they expressed support for President-elect Donald Trump.

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FEMA Supervisor Who Allegedly Directed Staff to Avoid Homes with Trump Signs Claims It Was a Widespread Practice Due to ‘Political Hostility’

Marn’i Washington and Roland Martin

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) supervisor accused of directing workers to skip hurricane-ravaged homes in Florida with Trump signs, claimed in an interview Monday that the policy was widespread and that she was being scapegoated.

Marn’i Washington was fired on Saturday after whistleblowers told the Daily Wire that at least 20 homes with Trump signs or flags were passed over at the end of October into November due to the guidance, depriving them of the opportunity to qualify for FEMA assistance. She had worked for the agency since 2019.

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Double-Barreled Hurricane Crisis Exposes FEMA’s Chronic Leadership, Staffing Problems

On the eve of Hurricane Milton’s landfall on a disaster-weary Florida, FEMA, the nation’s disaster relief agency reported a stark shortage of frontline workers available to be deployed: just 8% of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s vaunted Incident Management personnel were still available for deployment.

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How FEMA Got into the Illegal Immigrant Business, and Who Is Covering It Up

In the midst of the last major budget crisis in Washington, Democrats diverted money and the legal authority to put the nation’s disaster relief agency into the business of caring for the millions of illegal immigrants who crossed the border on the Biden-Harris administration’s watch. And now both parties seem to be trying to obfuscate the truth.

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Mayorkas Bemoans Lack Of FEMA Cash for Hurricanes After Spending Nearly $1 Billion on Migrant Crisis

FEMA

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) allocated over $1 billion for a migrant assistance program over the past two fiscal years, but now it is running out of cash for disaster relief as Hurricane Helene rages on and more storms loom.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said on Wednesday that FEMA does not have enough funds to make it through hurricane season, The Associated Press reported. Though resources are running short for Americans displaced by Helene, the agency spent big on a program providing “humanitarian services to noncitizen migrants” after their release from Department of Homeland Security custody.

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