‘One of the Stupidest Decisions and Policies I’ve Ever Heard Of’: Democratic Senator Goes off on DHS Secretary
Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) shredded Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Thursday amid reports that a new policy she implemented at her department hampered the federal response to the Texas floods.
More than 120 have been confirmed to have died in the flooding, which began last week when the Guadalupe River surged and overwhelmed area towns. At least 150 others are missing.
On Wednesday, CNN reported that the response by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is under DHS, was hindered by a new policy Noem put in place, whereby she must personally approve contracts and grants of more than $100,000. According to that report, Noem did not authorize FEMA’s deployment of urban search and rescue teams until more than 72 hours after the floods began.
Kim appeared on Thursday’s All In on MSNBC, where Chris Hayes quoted from a letter the senator wrote to Noem regarding hurricane preparedness.
“The reports of FEMA’s incomplete 2025 hurricane season plan on the cusp of the start of hurricane season and DHS’ slowness in providing the plan to this Committee are equally unsettling,” Kim wrote in the letter, which also expressed concern over Noem’s policy regarding $100,000 expenses.
“Is this policy still in place, as far as you understand it?” Hayes asked Kim.
“As far as I understand it, which is one of the stupidest decisions and policies I’ve ever heard of, especially when it comes to disaster response,” the senator replied. “And for an administration that tries to talk about red tape, they are adding red tape here. They are adding bureaucracy. They’re making it harder for us to be able to deploy and be able to get resources out. And that’s the most serious when it comes to responding to disasters.”
Kim added that he is concerned for his state the next time a hurricane makes landfall in it.
“Are we gonna have to be begging Kristi Noem to be able to get off Instagram, to be able to actually go and do her job of trying to approve resources that our state and our country need so badly?” he said. “This is a terrible idea. It’s a bottleneck. We should be able to pre-position resources. We should give freedom for our disaster response experts to be able to handle this.”
Watch above via MSNBC.
