Overview

• Multiple FEMA officials told CNN that Noem’s sign-off requirement stalled Urban Search and Rescue deployments for more than 72 hours after the July 4 floods.
• New York Times documents reveal FEMA answered just 16 percent of disaster assistance calls on July 7 after Noem allowed call-center contracts to expire.
• DHS asserts that no assistance calls went unanswered and that authorization for contracts and deployments was granted as soon as requests reached the secretary.
• Democratic lawmakers, led by Rep. Jared Moskowitz and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, have called for formal probes into Noem’s oversight of the flood response.
• President Trump and OMB Director Russell Vought have shifted from advocating FEMA’s elimination to endorsing a leaner, state-driven agency model.