00:00We have 300-plus human traffickers arrested, up 15%.
00:03I'm sorry, sir. Mr. Chairman, I'll give it back.
00:06I appreciate that.
00:07I'll catch you after that.
00:08If one of the following witnesses wants to give him some time to answer that very important question, they can do that.
00:14Gentleman yields back. I now recognize the gentleman from New York, Mr. Kennedy, for five minutes.
00:19Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
00:20Secretary Noem, with about a year as DHS Secretary under your belt, there's no shortage of criticisms for me to choose from today.
00:28You've deported American citizens, bringing a level of inhumanity to this nation's immigration laws that I haven't seen in my lifetime.
00:36You've terrorized communities, including my own in Buffalo, New York, vowing to go after the worst of the worst,
00:42but instead detaining women, children, and hardworking individuals in pursuit of the American dream.
00:48You've botched a response to one of the most devastating floods we've seen,
00:52an extreme weather event along the Guadalupe River that took more than 130 innocent lives, including more than 35 children.
01:01Central Texas waited days for your agency to respond because of the reckless policies you've implemented.
01:08Your FEMA lead was missing in action, completely unreachable, as were FEMA's call lines,
01:13with 84% of calls unanswered on July 7th, three days after the floods.
01:20FEMA personnel, despite your slashing of their ranks, who were ready and willing to help,
01:25waited days to spring into action because of your policies.
01:29Disasters do not wait for bureaucracy.
01:33Your abysmal performance goes beyond your woeful disaster response.
01:37You've also taken a sledgehammer to FEMA's recovery, preparedness, and mitigation missions.
01:43You canceled more than $4 billion in building resilient infrastructure and communities funds,
01:49a program that helps communities reduce their risk of natural disasters.
01:54You withheld millions in FEMA funds for emergency alerting infrastructure,
01:59found to be in violation of the Impound Control Act.
02:02You, perhaps most critical to my state of New York,
02:07canceled more than 90% of New York State's Homeland Security Program funding,
02:13including $134 million in urban area security initiative funds for New York City's greater metropolitan areas.
02:22You have mismanaged these grants to the point where cities and states, including New York,
02:27are suing you to recover counterterrorism funding that's lawfully theirs,
02:32and that Congress intended for them to receive.
02:35It's a tragedy that we're here today discussing these cuts to counterterrorism and security grant funds
02:40for a city that was the main site of the September 11th attacks,
02:45the entire reason your department was established in the first place.
02:50As the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Emergency Management,
02:53it's my responsibility to show the American public how you've systemically upended FEMA
02:59and emergency preparedness as we know it.
03:02So I have a couple of questions.
03:04Simple yes or no answer to suffice.
03:06Would you agree with the national security officials' assessment
03:09that the United States has been operating in a heightened threat environment for several years now?
03:14Yes.
03:18Yes or no?
03:18Would you say New York City is susceptible to these kinds of security threats?
03:22Yes, and that's why they should spend $440 million they had in newspapers the federal government gave them
03:29And with New York City being the number one security threat in this nation,
03:36it's unconscionable that you would cut $134 million in urban area security initiative funding
03:44for the city of New York.
03:46What compels you to knowingly make our cities less safe with these funding cuts?
03:50What compels you, your mayor, and your governor, to release thousands of criminals on the streets
03:55rather than to turn them over to ICE?
03:57You'd rather release a murderer out on the street-
03:58Secretary Nome, you cut $134 million in funds to support the security of New York City
04:07and the state of New York, the number one threat in this nation.
04:11In your own words, your cuts are blatantly political, callous, and outright dangerous.
04:16It's clear you have no interest in countering real threats in the homeland.
04:21While high-risk cities and disaster zones wait for help,
04:25you've devoted the past 11 months of violent raids, anti-police policies, and non-stop photo ops.
04:32You brought shame to a department that was created after 9-11 in a time of unity to protect our people.
04:40Your failure to lead is a direct threat to the homeland security in our nation,
04:44and you should resign immediately.
04:46I yield back.
04:49Gentleman yields back.
04:50I now recognize the gentleman from Alabama, Mr. Strong, for five minutes of questions.
04:55Thank you, Mr. Chairman, ranking member, and members of this committee.
04:58I thank you, too, to our witnesses for being here today,
05:02for your work to protect the homeland in an increased-
05:05superpowers, that we have the purpose of this choir in the homeland with a good memory.
05:09I'll see you in our news of this committee.
05:11Thank you, Mr. Strong, for being here today.
05:13Thank you, Mr. Strong, for being here today.
05:15Thanks, Mr. Strong.
05:17Good to see you in the next few minutes after the
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