00:00Breaking this morning, FEMA workers, have they been penalized for sounding the alarm
00:06and criticizing the Trump administration? Multiple employees put on leave after they
00:11signed a letter warning Congress that FEMA may fail Americans when responding to a disaster
00:18because all of the changes that President Trump has made to the agency. It's late August. This
00:24is right in the middle of hurricane season. This is right when FEMA typically historically has been
00:31its most essential and it comes as the country marks 20 years since Hurricane Katrina. This letter
00:39that the FEMA staffers wrote was actually titled the Katrina Declaration. More than 180 current and
00:44former staffers signed it. In it, they said FEMA should be shielded from political interference
00:49and that letter accuses the White House of undermining its capabilities. Let's get right
00:53seen as Gabe Cohen. You reported on this letter. The letter went out. Today, dozens get put on leave.
01:03Yeah, John, that's right. I mean, it was just 24 hours ago that I was on this program reporting
01:08on that open letter that was sent to Congress really warning that the Trump overhaul of FEMA
01:14had undone, was reversing about two decades of what the author said was a lot of progress
01:20since the federal failures in the response to Hurricane Katrina. Now, 24 hours later, we're
01:26talking about at least a few of these workers, some of the ones who actually publicly signed their names
01:32on the document because many decided to remain anonymous. They have now been put on leave. That
01:37means they're not going to be able to do business for DHS or FEMA. They are still going to be paid,
01:43but they're really not going to be functionally operating at the agency. I spoke to one of those
01:49workers who received a notice Tuesday evening, as several did. She said at least six that she's aware
01:56of, although it sounds like the number could be quite a bit higher than that. She told me, quote,
02:00I am disappointed, but I am not surprised. The decision doesn't just affect me. It increases the burden
02:06on my colleagues who are already overworked and stretched thin. I'm also proud of those who stood
02:12up, regardless of what it might mean for our jobs. The public deserves to know what is happening
02:17because lives and communities will suffer if this continues. Obviously, there has been a lot of
02:24concern internally at FEMA because of the overhaul of the agency at the hands of the Trump administration.
02:29They have instituted strict spending oversight over the agency. They have also installed inexperienced
02:38leaders that came from the Department of Homeland Security. And that, these authors say, is really
02:44undoing those reforms that were put in place after Katrina to make sure that type of failure did not
02:50happen again. FEMA, for its part, very much disagrees with the messaging here. They explained why those
02:56workers were put on leave, though, saying it is not surprising that some of the same bureaucrats
03:01who presided over decades of inefficiency are now objecting to reform. Our obligation is to survivors,
03:09not to protecting broken systems. But, John, the irony here is a big part of this letter from these
03:15FEMA workers was essentially saying that the agency and its staff needs to be protected from political
03:23decisions, from political fire. And now, just 24 hours later, we see the administration coming in
03:29and ousting the very workers who signed their name to that document.
03:33You know, Gabe, based on your reporting, you know, we heard the statement from them. To what extent do
03:36you think they anticipated this kind of response?
03:39I think the reality is they did expect it, especially considering that earlier this summer,
03:44the Trump administration very similarly put about 140 workers from the EPA on paid administrative leave
03:52after they, too, signed a letter really dissenting to some of the administration's actions,
03:58their treatment of federal workers, and the regulations that they were putting in place
04:02related to the climate space. So these workers knew this was likely a reality. And I can tell you,
04:08I've talked to other sources inside FEMA who really felt like this was symbolically nice,
04:14but that they could not afford to lose any more of their colleagues, given that about a third of the
04:20full-time workforce from FEMA has already left the agency since this second term for President Trump
04:25started.
04:26And given that it is late August, the middle of hurricane season, Gabe Cohen in Washington for
04:31us. We'll let you get back to reporting on this. You've been all over it. Thank you.
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