Senator Raphael Warnock (D) has escalated his push to get answers from the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary Kristi Noem on FEMA’s ability to respond to hurricanes in Georgia this storm season.
The Senator has renewed his call for answers with a follow-up letter after Secretary Noem failed to adequately answer the previous one at the beginning of hurricane season in June.
The letter begins with a flat declaration that Secretary Noem has failed to reassure Sen. Warnock that FEMA is ready and able to assist Georgians in hurricane season.
The issue is then traced back to its origin, stemming from an internal review agency's finding that “FEMA is not ready.” According to Warnock, there is still no answer as to how that has been fixed.
Sen. Warnock continues, “If the actions of this administration have rendered FEMA unable to fulfill its mission, then our state and local governments deserve to know, so they can prepare to provide life saving aid where the Trump administration will not.”
The Senator then appealed to the recent flooding in Texas as to why this issue is so important. State and local entities can be overwhelmed, resulting in terrible catastrophes. This is what makes federal support so crucial.
In Secretary Noem’s initial response, she appealed to FEMA’s survivor-centric strategy as to why disaster mitigation policies had been neglected.
In the letter, Sen. Warnock rebukes this by affirming that disaster mitigation is purely survivor-centric. He states, “As any disaster response expert will tell you: what we do before the storm is just as, if not more, important as what we do after. Instead, your changes undermine the very foundation of a survivor-centric approach.”
Sen. Warnock also posted a video on X reiterating his concerns and bringing his letter to a wider audience. The video begins with him stating, “This is a message for the Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem. You have the sacred responsibility of keeping Americans safe, but so far, you have fallen short.”
After that statement, the Senator then repeats his questions and concludes by stating that he will continue to push for answers. He states. “Lives and livelihoods are at stake. I won’t stop demanding answers.”
