John Garamendi Ruthlessly Grills Acting FEMA Director Over Trump's Threat To 'Eliminate FEMA'

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During a House Transportation Committee hearing on Wednesday, Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA) asked Acting FEMA Director David Richardson about his agency's future.

Transcript

00:00Chair, thanks.

00:01The gentleman, the chair now recognizes the gentleman from California, Mr. Garamendi.

00:06Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

00:09This committee has for a long time been concerned about FEMA, the way it runs and operates.

00:15There have been major efforts by the committee as a whole and by the subcommittee.

00:19I'm thinking back on much of the work done by Mr. Graves before he left Congress.

00:25Going forward, the question of whether FEMA is going to survive or not remains open.

00:33In the first week in office, Mr. Trump, President Trump talked openly about getting rid of FEMA.

00:39In March, Secretary Noem said, we're going to eliminate FEMA.

00:43In June, Trump said FEMA could be eliminated as soon as December, saying he wanted to

00:49wean off FEMA and bring it back to the state level.

00:53It's not just those words, which are not fake news, by the way.

00:58It's also what has actually happened.

01:01A third of the staff at FEMA has been eliminated in the DOGE process.

01:08So there's serious concern, at least by me and I suspect by other members of the committee,

01:13about the future of FEMA.

01:15Is it even going to exist?

01:19Can you commit to us today that FEMA will exist in the future, will be able to carry

01:24out its functions under the law and under the needs of this nation?

01:29Or do you not know?

01:30Thank you for the question.

01:33What I can commit to is that the president wants a better emergency management for the

01:40American people.

01:41The president is a noble goal, the president is a noble man, and that's what he wants.

01:44He wants a better emergency management capability.

01:47Does that mean FEMA is gone and there will be something new and different?

01:52So, in his wisdom, and with Secretary Noem and Secretary Heggseth's guide, the president

02:00has appointed a FEMA council that are going to give him recommendations.

02:05So, the answer is blowing in the wind.

02:07We do not know, and you cannot confirm, that it is the policy of the administration to maintain

02:13FEMA.

02:14I understand that.

02:15Let me move along here.

02:17A third of your staff is gone.

02:22Two thousand employees have been, have departed for multiple reasons.

02:26Some of them fired, others are them taking early retirement.

02:31It took nine days for you to arrive in Texas following the disaster there.

02:37Is that the normal going forward?

02:40It took three days for your team to arrive, nine days for you to arrive.

02:44Is that the new normal?

02:45So as I promised the people of Texas, they would get what they needed on time and on target.

02:52And I talked to the emergency manager of Texas and he, I asked him, what is the best thing

02:58I can do for you?

02:59And he said, remain on the ground and make sure that we get what we need on time.

03:04So I remained in Washington, D.C. kicking down the doors of bureaucracy.

03:09I got it.

03:10That's where I remained.

03:12So the top leadership of FEMA is not expected to respond to emergencies across the nation.

03:19Instead, you're going to remain in your offices here in Washington, D.C. I got it.

03:25I did go to Texas and I went to Texas to confirm with the people of Texas that I had delivered

03:30on my promise.

03:33We'll see if that delivery is real or not.

03:36The next series of questions has to do with disaster mitigation, that is getting ahead

03:42of the disaster.

03:43You just heard from Mr. Fong about his request for funding to reduce the fire risks in his

03:50area.

03:51That exists in my area, in the Bay Area, however, that program was terminated.

03:58Even though it was started in 2018 by President Trump in his first term, it's now eliminated.

04:05So the effort.

04:09So is it the policy of FEMA to rebuild that program to get ahead of the disasters and defund

04:17disaster mitigation before it happens?

04:20What is the policy of the department?

04:23You're speaking of the building resilience, correct?

04:26That is correct.

04:27So it was started in 2018.

04:29But under the Trump administration, that program began to be used for things like bike paths

04:37and shade at bus stops.

04:40So instead of eliminating and so instead of dealing with those specific rather small funding

04:47programs, you decided to eliminate this entire program.

04:51Is that correct?

04:52Well, that program, BRIC, is under litigation.

04:55I can tell you about the past, but I can't tell you anything about the future for that

04:58program.

04:59But it was being used for bike paths.

05:01That's not my question.

05:02What is the future?

05:03The BRIC program is terminated.

05:07Is it the intention of FEMA to restart it?

05:10Or are we simply not going to pay attention to an effort to reduce the potential for a disaster?

05:18What is the...

05:19Resilience is a top priority of FEMA, but that program, once again, there's litigation surrounding

05:25that program, and I'm not at liberty to speak of it.

05:28The gentleman's time has expired.

05:30Chair, thanks.

05:31The gentleman, the chair.

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