An employee of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been fired for directing a disaster relief team to avoid homes displaying signs supporting Donald Trump after Hurricane Milton in Florida.
The incident occurred last month at homes near Lake Placid.
FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell called the employee's actions "reprehensible."
The agency and the House Oversight Committee have launched investigations to determine how many homes may have been skipped due to the employee's orders.
Oversight Committee Chair James Comer sent Criswell a letter Saturday calling on her to testify at an upcoming hearing which will investigate the agency's hurricane disaster responses. "In the wake of the recent major disasters that impacted Americans of all political persuasions, it is critical that FEMA adheres to its disaster relief mission," he wrote.
Criswell said in a statement announcing the firing that the employee's behavior was a "clear violation of FEMA's core values and principles to help people regardless of their political affiliation. 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."
A new disaster relief team was deployed Friday to contact families who may not have been reached earlier.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is launching his own investigation into the agency into what he characterized as the federal government's "targeted discrimination of Floridians who support Donald Trump."
Politico reported last week that the strapped federal agency didn't answer almost half of the calls it received for disaster aid, apparently due to a shortage of resources.
Several Republicans earlier this year voted against supplementing the FEMA budget in a government funding extension before Hurricane Helene battered some of their home states. In September Congress passed a stop-gap spending bill to replenish funding for the agency, which disbursed more than $1.2 billion in emergency aid to Americans who applied for financial disaster relief from Hurricane Milton, reported Politico.
FEMA last helped with relief efforts for Hurricane Milton, a major category 3 storm. Eighty-eight people were killed when Hurricane Helene hit. The head of FEMA blamed Helene's "historic flooding" on climate change.
