Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem denied reports suggesting the deployment of resources to Texas was delayed because of her new rule requiring her personal sign-off on all Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) contracts or grants worth more than $100,000.
In an interview Sunday on NBC News’s “Meet the Press,” Noem acknowledged that she implemented the new rule but said the resources were deployed promptly after the flooding.
“Those claims are absolutely false. Within just an hour or two after the flooding, we had resources from the Department of Homeland Security there, helping those individuals in Texas. It was a heartbreaking scene. And I think it’s been well covered about what the Coast Guard did, how they were deployed immediately and helped rescue so many individuals from those floodwaters. And we had Border Patrol down there with their tactical teams, and FEMA was there just within a few hours as well,” Noem told NBC News’s Kristen Welker about the reports.
“So those claims are false,” she continued. “They’re from people who won’t put their name behind those claims. And those call centers were fully staffed and responsive. And this is the fastest, I believe, in years, maybe decades, that FEMA has been deployed to help individuals in this type of situation.”
Noem explained that her new policy is “an accountability” mechanism for contracts but insisted that “there was no break in contracts” and that resources were deployed immediately.
“Those contracts were approved as soon as they were in front of me, and FEMA knew they were fully to deploy the instant that the local officials asked for their request,” she said.
Noem pushed back on Welker’s suggestion that her new rule amounted to “extra red tape.”
“It’s not extra red tape. It’s making sure everything is getting to my level and that it’s immediately responded to. This was not slowed down at all. In fact, it was much more responsive. If you remember, I was there. I was standing right there long before this report ever came out. And people were asking, and we were granting permission in real time,” she said.
“So the false reporting has been something that is inappropriate and it’s something that I think we need to clear up: that this response was by far the best response we’ve seen out of FEMA, the best response we’ve seen out of the federal government in many, many years and certainly much better than what we saw under Joe Biden.”
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