Josh Hawley Questions DHS Sec. Kristi Noem About Response To Deadly Storm In St. Louis, Missouri

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At today's Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) questioned DHS Sec. Kristi Noem.

Transcript

00:00back. Time has expired. Senator Hawley. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Secretary Noem,

00:06good to see you. Welcome. Congratulations on securing the border in a record amount of time.

00:10The last administration came and sat where you're sitting for four years and told us it couldn't be

00:14done. It couldn't be done. The border was just an intractable problem. It would take years to do it.

00:21You did it in the space of really 30 days, and now the United States southern border is secure.

00:25So thank you for your tremendous work on that. I want to begin, however, with the situation in St.

00:30Louis, which I'm sure you're aware of. On Friday afternoon and evening, major storms ripped through

00:34the St. Louis area, as well as southeast Missouri. I'm going to put a picture up over my shoulder here.

00:40An F3 tornado cut right through north St. Louis. This is what you're seeing here is pretty typical,

00:47I'm sad to say, of the damage. We lost five people in St. Louis. We lost another two in Scott County,

00:52which is down in southeast Missouri, there to the south, a couple of hours south of the city.

00:57I spent much of the day yesterday just walking these neighborhoods and talking to residents,

01:02and this that you're seeing over my shoulder is what these neighborhoods all look like.

01:07These are areas that families have lived here. In some cases, I talked to one individual,

01:11one gentleman, and he said that his family had been there since his great-grandmother

01:14came to that neighborhood in 1919. So it's that kind of a community, and they are totally devastated.

01:20Yesterday afternoon, my governor requested an emergency disaster declaration

01:24to expedite FEMA funds to help the state just clean up. I mean, just clean up the kind of rubble

01:29now that you're seeing behind me. You've been a governor until very recently. You know how important

01:35this is. Can we get your help to expedite the consideration of that request? Again,

01:39it was just made yesterday. We need it as quickly as possible. Will you help us expedite that?

01:44Yeah, absolutely. I've spoken with your governor and did that day that this devastation happened,

01:49and so we've promised and pledged to get that expedited as soon as possible for him so he can

01:54have the resources that he needs to respond to his people. And that's one of the failures that FEMA's

01:59had in the past, is that people that incur this kind of damage and lose everything, then they sit

02:04there for months, sometimes years, and never get the promised critical response that they think or

02:10that they believe they should be getting from the federal government. And that's why President

02:14Trump believes that this agency needs to be dramatically reformed. I'm glad to hear you say

02:18that, and you're exactly right. We've had the situation in Missouri in years past where we've had

02:22individuals who have qualified for FEMA aid, including individual assistance. In some cases,

02:26they've been awarded the assistance. Right. And then FEMA has come in and clawed it back or never paid it

02:31out or never sent teams to help. So to have your commitment to expedite this is tremendous. That will be

02:37welcome news to the residents of St. Louis. We also have, the state has pending three requests

02:42for major disaster declarations from earlier storms. We've lost over a dozen people. Actually,

02:49if you count the folks we lost just on Friday, we've lost almost 20 people now in major storms

02:53just in the last two months in Missouri. It's been a terrible spring for us. Here again,

02:57can I ask for your help? Will you commit to helping for those three major disaster declaration requests

03:02that are pending? Will you help expedite those, Secretary Noem, and get those in front of the

03:07president, get those approved? We are, we are desperate for the assistance in Missouri. Yes,

03:10absolutely. Thank you. Make sure the application gets to the White House as soon as possible. Fantastic.

03:15Thank you. And can I also have your commitment that if and when the president approves a major

03:20disaster declaration for this storm that just happened on Friday in St. Louis, will you expedite

03:25as much as possible FEMA individual assistance for those who qualify for it in the St. Louis area? Yes.

03:32And I want to tell you just how important that is because as I toured these streets and walked and

03:36talked to the residents, what I heard over and over is many of these folks don't have insurance.

03:40Yeah. You know, many of these folks, they either got their homes from a family member or they bought

03:47them from a family member so they don't have a mortgage on the property and therefore they don't

03:50have a homeowner's insurance. So as you know, having been a governor in many instances, FEMA assistance

03:56is going to be the only assistance that they're going to get. And I just had a hearing in this committee

04:02in our subcommittee, Senator Kim and I last week, where we talked to major insurance companies who

04:07routinely scam people by refusing to pay out the full policy awards that they are due. So I know

04:13we're going to be fighting that in Missouri. We've got to have the federal government where there's

04:17individual assistance that people qualify for. We've got to have people be able to get that.

04:22Otherwise, we're never going to be able to rebuild these neighborhoods. So you just committed,

04:25I think, to expediting that. I appreciate that. Thank you for your help in all of this.

04:29And then the last thing we'll say is, can you commit also to making sure that the FEMA communication

04:36with the state and with individuals is open, is clear, is transparent? You referenced the fact

04:41that FEMA is notorious, notorious for giving bad information, for slow-walking residents,

04:49for confusing intake forms that nobody knows how to fill out, for not getting back to people.

04:54Can you commit to, as we deal with this disaster in St. Louis and others around the state,

04:59that under your leadership, FEMA is going to act with expedition. They are going to be clear in

05:04their communications, and they're going to follow up and give people the awards that they need if

05:08they qualify for it. Yeah, that's been the biggest challenge of FEMA in the past, is just the

05:12delayed response. People are counting on the assistance, and it never comes through. And the

05:16paperwork is too complicated for an individual many times to complete on their own. They need help and

05:22assistance. So that's part of the reforms that the FEMA Review Council will be undertaking. And we've got

05:27people that are our front-line responders across the country that are serving on that council. And

05:31we'll take your insight as well. But we'll continue to expedite what we can with the framework we have

05:36in front of us, but do better diligence than the last administration on how we take care of people.

05:41Fantastic. Everything you said today is going to be very, very welcome news in St. Louis and the rest of

05:45Missouri this morning. Thank you for being here. Thank you for your service. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

05:48Thank you. Senator Fetterman.

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