House Democrat Grills Trump’s FEMA Boss About Deadly Texas Flood: Do the Victims ‘Deserve an Apology?’
Rep. Greg Stanton (D-AZ) pulled no punches on Wednesday when questioning David Richardson, the acting administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, during a House hearing on the devastating flash floods in Texas that killed at least 135 people earlier in the month.
Stanton began his remarks by honoring the victims of the floods and recalling some of the tragic tales of parents who died to save their children and young girls killed while at camp. He then pivoted to Richardson, “To those brave women and men, we see you, we thank you, and we will not forget your heroism. Meanwhile, the acting FEMA Administrator, David Richardson, before us today was missing in action.”
“For the first 48 hours, the most critical window for search and rescue, he never visited the National Response Coordination Center. For more than a week, he stayed away from Texas. And for 10 days, he made no statement about the tragedy, not a word of sympathy or reassurance to the public,” Stanton added.
“Mr. Richardson, you were nowhere near Texas at the critical moments in the search and rescue, and you did not even show your face for more than a week after the flood,” Stanton said, adding:
You are the administrator of this critical agency. You’re the leader, but you did not lead as you are required to by federal law. But worse, you seem uninterested in learning what went wrong and how to respond better. Do the victims and survivors in Texas deserve an apology?
“What happened in Texas was an absolute tragedy. It’s hard to fathom. I went to Texas; I flew over. It was an absolute tragedy. My heart goes out to the people in Texas. I know that there was–” replied Richardson as Stanton cut clarified, “That was intended as a yes or no question, and I’ll appropriately take that as a no.”
“Mr. Chairman, this wasn’t just incompetence. It wasn’t indifference. It was both. And that deadly combination likely cost lives. I yield back,” concluded Stanton.
FEMA’s search and rescue chief, Ken Pagurek, resigned on Thursday over “delays in federal aid after deadly floods in Central Texas,” reported Spectrum News.
“Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem in June started requiring funding requests over $100,000 to have her personal sign-off before being dispersed, something that reportedly complicated the response. Noem didn’t authorize the deployment of FEMA’s search and rescue teams until over 72 hours after the flooding,” added the report, details which have led to the ongoing finger-pointing surrounding the floods and the Trump administration. Trump had previously promised to get rid of FEMA and “return it to the states.”
Watch the clip above via C-SPAN.
