A U.S. senator from Alabama wants accountability following reports that a Federal Emergency Management Agency supervisor instructed relief workers to avoid houses with signs for former President Donald Trump.
At least 20 houses with Trump campaign flags or signs were bypassed for outreach regarding possible federal disaster assistance, according to reports. Additionally, FEMA fired an employee who advised a disaster relief team to skip houses with Trump yard signs as the embattled agency responded to Hurricane Milton.
“I appreciate that Administrator Criswell has condemned these actions and fired the supervisor, but the American people need answers regarding how this happened and if anyone else was complicit, as well as assurance it will not happen again,” U.S. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Alabama, the ranking member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, said in a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell.
“As Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, I have worked to ensure that FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) has sufficient resources to respond to disasters as they occur and to assist individuals and communities recovering in the aftermath,” Britt added. “…Any disaster funding provided by Congress must be made available to all Americans who are victims of presidentially declared disasters, and cannot be conditioned or delayed based on their political views.”
Britt demanded that Mayorkas and Criswell provide answers to her by Nov. 15 regarding the policies in place to protect against the politicization of aid, including what policies and circumstances would allow an individual to forgo aid to specific homes, if additional delays have taken place due to political affiliation, whether any whistleblowers have come forward, and the number of personnel aware of the FEMA supervisor’s actions before press reporting.
