Noem grilled over FEMA’s Texas response on “Meet the Press”
As the head of the Department of Homeland Assurance Kristi Noem has a lot to answer for Noem is the top dog in U S natural catastrophe response which is under fire following deadly floods in Texas The former governor walked into a buzzsaw on NBC s Meet the Press Sunday when host Kristen Welker took her to task over the job she s done in President Donald Trump s second term Welker cited a assessment from the New York Times that claimed staggering numbers of calls to FEMA for assistance went unanswered in the wake of the central Texas flood The document notes that the Trump administration had let call center staff contracts expire the day after the flood and that Noem took five days to get a new contract in place Per the Times the days after the waters receded saw nearly two-thirds of calls to FEMA go unanswered Noem denied the facts of the statement on Sunday saying that no employees were off work It s just false Noem explained Every one of them was answering calls so false reporting fake news and it s discouraging It s discouraging that during this time when we have such a loss of life and so a large number of people s lives have turned upside down that people are playing politics with this Noem mentioned that the outlet s reporting necessities to be validified and that she s not sure where their numbers came from The individuals who are giving you information out of FEMA I d love to have them put their names behind it because the anonymous attacks to politicize the situation is wholly wrong she reported Related FEMA s acting director is MIA and the media hasn t even noticed The assessment comes after Noem put in place a requirement that she approve any contract over Welker sought why Noem would want to add more red tape to mishap recovery It s not extra red tape It s making sure everything gets to my level Noem announced This was not slown down at all Start your day with essential news from Salon Sign up for our free morning newsletter Crash Program Welker also pressed Noem about an alleged delay in deploying search and rescue teams by multiple days They were deployed instantly when requested Noem stated So a multitude of individuals are playing politics with what happened to Texas Watch the interview below Read more about this topic Camp Mystic a haven for generations of Texas girls becomes a center of tragedy Texas flash flood is a preview of chaos to come Ted Cruz addresses weather modification conspiracy theories The post Noem grilled over FEMA s Texas response on Meet the Press appeared first on Salon com