Laura Friedman Grills Acting FEMA Director David Richardson Over Texas Floods Response

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During a House Transportation Committee hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Laura Friedman (D-CA) asked Acting FEMA Director David Richardson about his agency's response to the deadly floods in Texas.

Transcript

00:00I'll recognize as Representative Friedman from California.

00:04Thank you, Mr. Richardson, for being here today.

00:07I represent parts of Los Angeles, which of course was devastated by huge mega fires recently.

00:14I'm very appreciative of FEMA's efforts on the ground.

00:18What we've discovered is that currently FEMA bars providing assistance to disaster victims

00:24who've received individual charitable donations, like through their church or through a GoFundMe page,

00:29they're finding that FEMA is deducting that amount.

00:32So I introduced a bill, Don't Penalize Victims Act,

00:35to ensure that charitable donations are not considered a duplication of benefits by FEMA.

00:44People aren't raising money to give it to FEMA.

00:46They're raising money to give it to victims to help them rebuild their lives.

00:49I would like you to say that you're willing to work with us on this

00:54and that you will support these efforts as they move forward.

00:57I would be glad to work with you.

01:00What I'd like to say, there should be no politics in emergency management.

01:04I would be glad to work with you and glad to look into it.

01:07Now, I'd like to continue on some of the questions that have been asked about FEMA's response

01:11to the horrific flooding in Texas.

01:13And as a mom whose daughter has gone to Girl Scout camp and been up in wild areas,

01:18that whole incident really broke my heart.

01:21So my heart goes out to everybody in Texas that was affected.

01:24The New York Times reported last week that on July 7, three days into the emergency response effort,

01:29FEMA call centers responded to less than 20 percent of the calls coming in from disaster victims for help.

01:35That means more than four out of five calls went unanswered.

01:37And I can just imagine the frustration of people looking for loved ones, dealing with damage,

01:42dealing with incredible tragedy to find out that their government just wasn't answering the phone.

01:47Secretary Noem, however, claimed that on Meet the Press,

01:50that the New York Times piece was, quote, fake news.

01:54So I'd like to clear this up for the record.

01:56Isn't it accurate that 80 percent, at least, of the calls that went to FEMA call centers on July 7 went unanswered?

02:06When the tragedy struck, we knew there would be a...

02:10It's a pretty simple yes or no question.

02:11They either answered the calls or they didn't answer the calls on July 7.

02:15When there was a spike in calls, FEMA was there to answer the calls.

02:19The majority of the calls were answered at the call centers.

02:23Well, that's not what the report says.

02:24The report says that on July 5, as the floodwaters were starting to recede,

02:30FEMA received 3,027 calls from disaster survivors and answered 3,000 or 18 of them, which is over 99 percent.

02:40Contractors with four call center companies answered the vast majority of the calls.

02:43That evening, however, Ms. Noem did not renew the contracts with those four companies,

02:48and hundreds of contractors were fired, according to the documents and the person briefed on the matter.

02:53The next day, July 6, FEMA received 2,363 calls and answered 846, or roughly 35.8 percent,

03:02according to those documents.

03:03And on Monday, July 7, the agency fielded 16,419 calls and answered 2,613 of them, which is only 15.9 percent.

03:14That's shown by official documents.

03:16And FEMA officials were incredibly frustrated by the lapse of those contracts

03:19and that it was taking days for Ms. Noem to act.

03:22A little while ago, you said that part of your job, you felt, was to remove,

03:27you called them bureaucratic, closing out bureaucratic procedures.

03:32To me, having someone, one person only, having to sign off on every contract of $100,000 or more

03:39is the definition of bureaucracy.

03:41And in this case, it led to thousands of victims not having their calls answered by their government.

03:48Their government wasn't there when they reached out for help in their darkest hour.

03:54So are those numbers fake?

03:56Are you telling me that those are fake numbers?

03:57Or are they verifiable?

03:59And did Ms. Noem misspeak when she said that it was fake news?

04:04What I can tell you is the vast majority of phone calls were answered.

04:07There was never a lapse in the contract.

04:11Secretary Noem, under her leadership, she's concerned about due diligence

04:15and making sure the American people get what they deserve.

04:19In your mind, 15.9 percent of calls being answered is the vast majority.

04:23So is that the benchmark now we're looking for, for FEMA to answer their calls, 15 percent,

04:30or in one case, 35 percent in a day, in the middle of this disaster, this huge disaster?

04:36I would have to agree with Secretary Noem.

04:38That's fake news.

04:39The majority of the calls were answered.

04:43There was never a lapse in contract.

04:45Well, that is absolutely not what the reports from these companies from the disaster says.

04:52They give specific numbers of calls that went unanswered,

04:55and I don't see how you can deny these reports, but I will yield my time back.

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