The acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency was fired from the position on Thursday, a day after he told Congress the agency should not be dismantled.
The comments made by Cam Hamilton, the acting administrator of FEMA appointed by President Donald Trump, to the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday are not aligned with Trump’s position on eliminating the agency.
“As the senior advisor to the President on disasters and emergency management, and to the Secretary of Homeland Security, I do not believe it is in the best interest the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency,” Hamilton told the committee Wednesday, according to CNN.
“Having said that, I am not in a position to make decisions and impact outcomes on whether or not a determination as consequential as that should be made. That is a conversation that should be had between the President of the United States and this governing body.”
CNN reported that Hamilton was escorted out of FEMA headquarters on Thursday and that he will be replaced by David Richardson.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told the committee why the president wants to eliminate FEMA.
“President Trump has been very clear since the beginning that he believes that FEMA and its response in many, many circumstances has failed the American people, and that FEMA, as it exists today, should be eliminated in empowering states to respond to disasters with federal government support,” she said.
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CNN reported Hamilton struck a starkly different tone in his testimony. He repeatedly praised FEMA’s staff – calling them “one of the greatest workforces in the entire federal government” – stressing that his goal is to cut bureaucratic red tape and refocus the agency and its budget on its core mission of delivering assistance to survivors after only the most devastating natural disasters, shifting responsibility for smaller disasters onto the states.
“The (FEMA) workforce is tremendous and amazing, and they do a lot of great work, but there’s also systems and processes that are completely antiquated and have to be improved.” Hamilton said. “FEMA is all too often used by states and public officials as a financial backstop for routine issues that frankly should be handled locally. This misalignment has fostered a culture of dependency, waste, inefficiency, while also delaying crucial aid to Americans who are in genuine need.”
Trump and Noem have repeatedly criticized FEMA as partisan, inefficient, and unnecessary. The administration has claimed FEMA uses “woke” ideologies to appropriate funds, CNN reported.
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