Tag: fema

Wasteful FEMA Spending Topped $9 Billion During the Pandemic

It’s been nearly five years, and the total cost of wasteful COVID-era spending is still being realized. A recent Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) report illuminates several examples of waste, fraud, and abuse at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). 

The OIG found the agency overobligated “at least $1.5 billion in funds for one state’s medical staffing grant.” Additionally, FEMA failed to properly vet funding to the state, leading to $8.1 billion of questionable spending.

During the pandemic, FEMA developed a streamlined process to award reimbursements through its Public Assistance Program. Instead of awarding funding to a project based on actual costs that were comparable to current market rates, the agency offered reimbursements based on cost estimates. The new process, designed to get disaster funding out of the door faster, generated less oversight and more fraudulent spending. 

The state, which the OIG does not name, received about $853 million from FEMA in September 2020 to address staffing shortages at over 200 health care facilities statewide. Over the next year, FEMA incrementally increased funding, eventually awarding over $9 billion, which the state did not need. From May 2021 to April 2023, unspent grant funds reached $4 billion, before falling to $1.5 billion. FEMA was unaware of this until April 2023, when an OIG investigation was conducted. The agency subsequently de-obligated $500 million of the state’s funding. 

FEMA did not “validate cost estimates or determine cost reasonableness before obligating funds,” according to the OIG. One of the cost estimates, which totaled $1.1 billion, was supported by one sheet of paper, which did not include itemized costs and was not conducted by a “cost-estimating professional” (which is required under FEMA guidelines). 

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The Tyler Burleson Story – Tennessee Patriot Sits in Jail Today after He Stopped Everything to Help the Victims of Hurricane Helene

Tyler Burleson is behind bars tonight awaiting an arraignment in Unicoi County, Tennessee, three days past the 72-hour limit required by law. Burleson has been instrumental in bringing relief to those affected by Hurricane Helene over the last four months. Tyler has put his business and life on hold to help serve the community. He helped the community open a distribution area where hurricane victims could come and get supplies they need. This was done due to the lack of response given by FEMA to bring aid to those suffering. He has received pushback from authorities about having a distribution center and not having the proper permission to run such a place for the community. However, This has not stopped him and the other volunteers from providing for their fellow man.

Burleson revealed to Steve Bannon on his Real America’s Voice Warroom show this week that he was arrested on allegations of a bounced check even though he claims the check was made whole and resolved even before the arrest last week. Also, the alleged victim is not pressing charges. Although, there seems to be more to this arrest than meets the eye and some have ideas of why it took place, Burleson just wants to be free of this and continue helping his fellow citizens.

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Where’s the Outrage? Biden Gives SoCal a Blank Check While FEMA Leaves North Carolina Out In the Cold

The nation’s attention continues to be hyperfocused on Southern California as devastating wildfires continue to burn in and around Los Angeles. The fires have displaced thousands of people and destroyed entire towns. There is an overwhelming need for immediate aid, and the recovery from these disastrous fires will take years.

With less than two weeks left in office, President Joe Biden has informed California Governor Gavin Newsom that the federal government will be picking up the tab for California’s recovery for the next six months. Biden has told them to spare no expense.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, the residents of Western North Carolina have been all but forgotten. Thousands remain displaced from flooding caused by Hurricane Helene. Entire neighborhoods were washed away, and many of the buildings that survived the flooding are unlivable because of dangerous mold.

FEMA has been on the ground in North Carolina for months—not that you can tell. Many North Carolinians live in tents because assistance has been scarce, difficult to obtain, or unreachable.

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Homeland Security Inspector General Confirms Audit Of FEMA Over Trump Sign Controversy

The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general this week confirmed it is auditing the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) over concerns that its employees avoided homes that displayed signs supporting then-presidential candidate Donald Trump in the aftermath of several hurricanes.

In a letter dated Jan. 6, the office told Reps. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and Scott Perry (R-Pa.) that an audit of the disaster relief agency was initiated on Dec. 17, 2024, to “determine how well FEMA followed its policies and procedures when addressing safety concerns and determining community trends that impact disaster survivor assistance in response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton.”

Two months ago, a now-terminated FEMA employee, Marn’i Washington, allegedly told a FEMA team in Florida to bypass homes that display Trump signs. After reports surfaced that FEMA workers were told to avoid those homes, FEMA Director Deanne Criswell announced that the employee, Washington, was fired.

“I want to be clear to all of my employees and the American people, this type of behavior and action will not be tolerated at FEMA, and we will hold people accountable if they violate these standards of conduct,” Criswell said in a statement at the time.

But Washington later said in several media interviews that the policy was systemic and that she was being scapegoated. FEMA officials “were already avoiding these homes, based on community trends, from hostile political encounters,” she told Fox News at the time, adding that the policy had “nothing to do with the campaign sign, it just so happened to be a part of the community trend.”

“Firstly, I’m being framed,” she told NewsNation in mid-November 2024.

“There’s no violation of the Hatch Act. I was simply following orders.”

On Dec. 3, 2024, Graves and Perry, two lawmakers who sit on the House Transportation Committee, called for an investigation into the claims made by Washington and other reports “of the deliberate avoidance of homes with Trump campaign or political signs” during FEMA’s response to the two hurricanes.

“The actions taken by FEMA supervisors in directing employees to avoid homes that displayed Trump campaign signs or flags are disturbing and raise serious questions about the culture and political bias that permeates FEMA leadership,” they wrote, adding that the committee is also concerned about whether the practice was “more widespread than reported” and could have harmed hurricane victims.

In November 2024, Criswell testified before a House subcommittee and said that not providing aid to people due to political beliefs is “completely at odds with FEMA’s mission,” stressing that the incident wasn’t part of a broader FEMA trend.

FEMA had faced criticism late last year after Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Criswell suggested the relief agency would run out of funding needed to last the remainder of the 2024 hurricane season.

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In Miami-Dade County, Federal Funding For “Affordable Housing” Displaces Working Class Minorities Of New Republican Coalition In Li’l Abner Trailer Park

One problem with trying to raise opposition to federal funding is that it’s hard to trace bureaucratic causes to human effects. That’s not the case this month in the city of Sweetwater, part of the greater Miami metropolitan area in Miami-Dade County. Here, in a neighborhood where glittering Christmas lights overlap with “Trump/Vance” signs in a county which Trump carried with 55% of the vote, and a state he carried with 56%, around 3,000 people are about to be displaced due to the Washington bureaucracy that Trump ran against. Matters are so bad that talk is that Washington might have to solve the homelessness problem that it helped to cause by using FEMA—an unsettling thought now that we know how FEMA treats Republican voters.

The formal displacer is Raul F. Rodriguez of CREI Holdings, the owner of Li’l Abner Mobile Home Park in Sweetwater, founded by his father, a Cuban immigrant who had grown up in a mobile home himself. But bigger forces are also at play. The main one is amped-up federal funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to Miami-Dade County, justified because of the seemingly endless and mostly better-off new arrivals escaping failing Democrat cities in New York, Illinois and California. New developments have to be built to house them, sometimes by tearing down buildings, and housing also has to be provided for the working and middle class locals that they are displacing. These new arrivals drive up general costs as well as property taxes, which pushes more locals out and raises the demand for cheaper housing s.

Enter “affordable housing,” which, like “diversity” and “ equity,” is a helpful-sounding phrase that benefits bureaucrats, Democrats, and the better-off. Not surprisingly, in Miami-Dade, “affordable housing” is allowing federal money to flow to citizens who need it the least , even as it supports the projects of well-placed contractors and government bureaucrats . The people most hurt by the funding, in the meantime, are like those in Sweetwater: working class people with nowhere to go. The specifics of the crisis this Christmas in Sweetwater give a sense of just what’s being lost, and why, and what it might mean for Miami-Dade.

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Shocking Ring Video Shows Helene Victim Being Denied Disaster Aid Over Trump Sign

Doorbell camera footage released over the internet on Tuesday captured an infuriating moment when a liberal North Carolina resident providing donations to hurricane victims reprimanded a family for having the audacity to place a Trump sign in her yard and threatened to withhold future aid.

The Ring doorbell camera shows an elderly woman walking up to the front porch of a home in North Carolina where she was greeted by the homeowner. The End Wokeness account on X, which obtained the footage, drew viewers to negative remarks made by the woman shortly after she delivered a children’s mattress to the resident.

“This is the last of ’em,” the volunteer explains in the video. When the homeowner asks if they’ll be receiving more help, the volunteer replies, “I’m really conflicted — I have a lot more stuff to give, but I am not a fan of Donald Trump, so these signs are a problem for me.” She pointed at a red and blue Trump yard sign before walking off, leaving the resident standing nonplussed at the doorstep.

A timestamp accompanying the video appears to indicate it was recorded on Tuesday, evidencing that relief work is still in progress across parts of the Tar Heel state since being hit by Hurricane Helene in late September. Much of the effort was undertaken by FEMA but spiraled out of control amid speculation that the federal relief agency was withholding aid to Trump supporters, a claim furthered by then-candidate Donald Trump. Mainstream media outlets declared the accusation a “lie” and “baseless,” but shortly after the election the Biden-Harris administration was forced to fire a FEMA worker who admitted to directing her employees to skip over houses that had pro-Trump yard signs.

Other North Carolina survivors have detailed how FEMA hasn’t lived up to President Joe Biden’s promise of a maximum of $750 in relief payments. Other viral videos have shown military choppers causing mayhem over staging grounds where supplies were stored. The Blaze’s Glenn Beck has reported speaking with personnel on the ground who appear more interested in intercepting amateur helicopter pilots conducting rescue missions than rushing to save residents stranded in washed-away mountain towns. The video from Tuesday is another sign that the politicization of Helene has not abated with the election.

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Florida FEMA scandal exposes unaccountable bureaucracy that Trump targets for reform and cuts

An emergency response official’s decision to withhold vital assistance to hurricane victims that showed visible support for Republicans is a scandal that belies a larger issue, namely, an unaccountable federal bureaucracy left to police itself and which President-elect Donald Trump has eyed for reform and cuts.   

The concerns were raised by House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer in a hearing on the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s response to the dual crises of Hurricanes Helene and Milton that struck Florida and the wider Southeast earlier this year. 

“While today’s hearing will focus on FEMA, the issue at hand is part of a larger problem: the urgent need to hold the unelected, unaccountable federal workforce accountable to the American people and to the duly elected President of the United States,” Comer said in his opening statement. 

“The current system does not have strong enough mechanisms to ensure accountability. The disciplinary system is run by and for civil servants to protect civil servants,” he continued.

The hearing followed reports that during the hurricane response in Florida, one FEMA official instructed subordinates to bypass houses that displayed pro-Trump signs in Lake Placid, Florida, while they were canvassing to deliver assistance to the hurricane-stricken community. 

At least 20 houses were reportedly skipped under the guidance, and therefore were not given the opportunity to qualify for FEMA assistance, Just the News reported. 

“I was simply following orders”

The FEMA official responsible, Marn’i Washington was terminated shortly after the public reports emerged of her conduct, but Comer says the accountability came too late, only after the conduct was exposed by reporting from the Daily Wire. For her part, Washington told NewsNation‘s Dan Abrams that “Firstly, I’m being framed,” said Washington. “There’s no violation of the Hatch Act. I was simply following orders.”

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FEMA Employee Fired For Bypassing Homes With Trump Signs Says She Was Following Agency Protocol

An employee who was terminated from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for ordering government workers to bypass homes of Trump supporters said she was simply following standard operating procedure.

On Friday, the Daily Wire reported that FEMA supervisor Marn’i Washington had instructed staff to “avoid homes advertising Trump” while “they canvassed Lake Placid, Florida to identify residents who could qualify for federal aid” after Hurricane Milton tore through the region in early October.

“Government employees told The Daily Wire that at least 20 homes with Trump signs or flags were skipped from the end of October and into November due to the guidance, meaning they were not given the opportunity to qualify for FEMA assistance,” the outlet reported. “Images shared with The Daily Wire show that houses were skipped over by the workers, who wrote in the government system messages such as: ‘Trump sign no entry per leadership.’”

Washington was promptly fired from the agency, and FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell condemned the conduct as “a clear violation of FEMA’s core values & principles to help people regardless of their political affiliation.”

“This was reprehensible,” Criswell said. “This employee has been terminated and we have referred the matter to the Office of Special Counsel.”

Washington, however, who was also terminated from her private sector job at a property management company, said in an interview with the Black Star Network published late Monday night that she was just following FEMA’s standard operating procedure.

“FEMA always preaches avoidance first and then de-escalation,” Washington said. “This is not isolated. This is a colossal event of avoidance, not just in the state of Florida, but you will find avoidance in the Carolinas. Senior leadership will lie to you and tell you that they do not know.”

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FEMA worker Marni Washington breaks silence on not helping Trump-voting hurricane victims

The FEMA boss who was fired after ordering volunteers not to approach homes displaying Trump signs in Florida after Hurricane Milton has insisted her edict ‘was not isolated’ and also happened in North Carolina.  

Speaking out for the first time since she was fired, Marn’i Washington accused the Federal Emergency Management Agency of ‘lying’ about the scandal, and making her the scapegoat of a wider practice. 

Washington was blasted publicly and lost her job after a text chain was leaked that showed her instructing colleagues to ‘avoid’ houses that had Trump signs in their yards. 

Washington told DailyMail.com she is seeking an attorney and is ‘at risk’ as a result of the backlash she’s received. ‘I have information that proves FEMA is lying,’ she said. 

In a podcast appearance last night, she went further – claiming more FEMA employees are guilty of the same bias, but that she is the only one being hung out to dry. 

‘FEMA preaches avoidance first, and then de-escalation. This is not isolated. This is a colossal event of avoidance,’ Washington said in an interview with YouTube podcaster Roland Martin. 

‘Not just in the state of Florida. You will find avoidance in the Carolinas,’ she revealed. 

She says she was directly following FEMA protocol when she issued the controversial directive. 

FEMA has tried to distance itself from Washington after receiving widespread backlash, revealing she lost her job after her superiors learned of the message.

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said ‘this is a clear violation of FEMA’s core values and principles to help people regardless of their political affiliation.

‘This employee has been terminated and we have referred the matter to the Office of Special Counsel.’

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FEMA Official Ordered Relief Workers To Skip Houses With Trump Signs

A federal disaster relief official ordered workers to bypass the homes of Donald Trump’s supporters as they surveyed damage caused by Hurricane Milton in Florida, according to internal correspondence obtained by The Daily Wire and confirmed by multiple federal employees. 

A FEMA supervisor told workers in a message to “avoid homes advertising Trump” as they canvassed Lake Placid, Florida to identify residents who could qualify for federal aid, internal messages viewed by The Daily Wire reveal. The supervisor, Marn’i Washington, relayed this message both verbally and in a group chat used by the relief team, multiple government employees told The Daily Wire. 

The government employees told The Daily Wire that at least 20 homes with Trump signs or flags were skipped from the end of October and into November due to the guidance, meaning they were not given the opportunity to qualify for FEMA assistance. Images shared with The Daily Wire show that houses were skipped over by the workers, who wrote in the government system messages such as: “Trump sign no entry per leadership.”

It is unclear whether the same guidance was issued elsewhere in the country. The employees were part of a Department of Homeland Security surge capacity force team, meaning they volunteered from other DHS agencies to help an understaffed FEMA as it dealt with a second major hurricane in a span of just a few weeks.

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