A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The Biden administration wants more money for disaster recovery. But the agency that responds to natural disasters, FEMA, is fending off attacks in Congress. The administration is seeking nearly $100 billion in additional funds after this year's onslaught of hurricanes, flash floods and wildfires. Meanwhile, FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell spent Tuesday on Capitol Hill. She defended against accusations that the agency responded slowly to disasters and discriminated against some hurricane victims for political reasons. Here's Criswell during her testimony.
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DEANNE CRISWELL: Our goal is to help all people obtain all of the assistance that they need and that they are eligible for under the law. And any of the assistance and any misinformation that was out there was making this much more difficult for them to get this needed assistance.
MARTÍNEZ: NPR's Debbie Elliott is covering this story. Debbie, Criswell testified before two House committees. So what did members of Congress press her on?
DEBBIE ELLIOTT, BYLINE: Well, specifically, this was about FEMA's response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton - catastrophic storms, you'll remember, that struck the Southeast in late September and then early October back to back. More than 200 people were killed, and the storms caused billions of dollars in damage. But there's one particular incident that prompted this scrutiny. A now-fired FEMA supervisor directed workers who were doing door-to-door canvassing in Lake Placid, Florida, to skip over houses that had Trump campaign signs in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton.
Now, that former crew lead - is what she was - M'arni (ph) Washington, has since claimed she was following standard protocol to avoid hostility in the field, something workers did face after disinformation spread in the wake of Hurricane Helene. So the focus of these hearings is whether there's a wider cultural problem at FEMA. Here's House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky.
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JAMES COMER: The same employee alleged on TV that this was not an isolated event and that FEMA essentially treats the homes of President Trump supporters as if they were homes of people with vicious dogs. This is unacceptable. Americans demand accountability.
ELLIOTT: He says this incident amounts to the weaponization of government. Comer also entered into the record another reported incident of a household in Georgia being told by a FEMA contractor that they should remove any Trump campaign material. Now, that's something NPR has not verified.
MARTÍNEZ: So how did the FEMA chief respond?
ELLIOTT: A, in both the House Oversight Committee and then earlier before the transportation and infrastructure panel, Deanne Criswell repeatedly denied any wider issue in the way that FEMA doles out disaster aid. She says M'arni Washington's instruction to disaster assistance teams to avoid homes, quote, "advertising Trump" was reprehensible and at odds with the agency's mission. Here's part of her testimony before the House Oversight Committee.
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CRISWELL: This type of behavior and action will not be tolerated at FEMA. And we will hold all people accountable if they violate our standards of conduct. I do not believe that this employee's actions are indicative of any widespread cultural problems at FEMA.
ELLIOTT: Now, Democrats on the panel, like ranking member Jamie Raskin of Maryland, tried to point out that President-elect Trump and his allies had pushed conspiracy theories about the hurricane response.
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JAMIE RASKIN: FEMA aid workers have been forced to work under a cloud of propaganda and lies concocted to erode public trust in FEMA. Because of this disinformation, many victims of hurricanes have rejected federal assistance, and others have even harassed and threatened FEMA workers.
ELLIOTT: Now, Criswell says an internal investigation is underway, and she's asked for an independent probe by the inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security.
MARTÍNEZ: That's NPR's Debbie Elliott. Debbie, thanks.
ELLIOTT: You're welcome.
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