Members of the House Judiciary Committee used an oversight hearing Wednesday to challenge Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem over delays in dispersing Federal Emergency Management Agency funds, as well as the Trump administration’s plans to overhaul the disaster relief agency.
The questions focused on Noem’s policy requiring her to sign off personally on expenditures of more than $100,000, at a hearing that otherwise focused largely on her role in the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement approach.
Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., pointed to a request for a $2.5 million grant for a locality in his district intended for hazard mitigation in a rural, fire-prone region that he said suffered in one of the state’s worst wildfires. He told Noem the grant went through all the necessary approvals, and yet, “since June of last year, it’s just been waiting for your signature.”
