'You Stayed In Washington': Salud Carbajal Confronts Acting FEMA Director Over Texas Floods Response

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

Transcript

00:00Chair, thanks to the gentlewoman. The chair now recognizes Representative Carvajal.

00:06Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Mr. Richardson, for being here. I want to start by reminding all

00:13of us why these federal dollars exist in the first place, to support the American people

00:18when they need it the most. These funds are meant to help communities prepare for the worst

00:23and respond quickly when disasters strike. Mr. Richardson, you say you've stayed in

00:29Washington during a recent disaster to kick down the doors of bureaucracy. But for the Central Coast

00:36and for many communities across the country, FEMA delays in reimbursements have had real

00:42consequences. Contractors, cities, counties are forced to front the cost of emergency response

00:49and recovery, straining local budgets and slowing down rebuilding efforts. Yet when it's time for

00:56the federal government to pay back local communities, it is holding funds rather than

01:01repaying its share. Why? Because Secretary Noem is now personally reviewing every FEMA grant contract

01:09over $100,000. This bureaucratic bottleneck is suffocating our communities. I have heard from

01:16my constituents from the County of San Luis Obispo, the City of San Luis Obispo, the County

01:22of Santa Barbara, the County of Ventura, and various water districts throughout my district.

01:28They are not receiving the reimbursements that they are owed. Today, I want to focus my questions

01:34on these issues. Mr. Richardson, what specific action is FEMA taking to clear these overdue

01:40reimbursements? And how much longer will my constituents on the Central Coast have to wait?

01:45Thank you for your question. So the reimbursements and the bureaucratic nature of that is indeed

01:53something I'm concerned about because I will kick down doors of bureaucracy. And we are digging

02:00into that now because it takes far, far too long for the reimbursements and also to close

02:06out the disaster. So it's something that we are looking into. I don't necessarily have a timeline,

02:14but I can work with you to let you know. Thank you. For months, Donald Trump has claimed that he is

02:21cutting red tape and his administration is doing that in Washington. For communities on the Central

02:26Coast, this sure doesn't feel that way. What process improvements has FEMA implemented or will

02:33implement to accelerate these reimbursements? So one of the things that I've done, and once again,

02:40thank you for the question, is I've consolidated the office was somewhat disparate when addressing

02:48these. What I've done is I've consolidated those functions in FEMA so we can get a better handle on

02:55it and better reporting measures for it. And I can share those with you.

02:59Love to have that information. What accountability measures or metrics does FEMA use to track

03:07reimbursement timelines internally? And would you commit to provide this committee and me

03:14a report on average processing times for reimbursement claims, especially for the Central

03:20Coast disasters over the past two years?

03:22What I can do is I can commit to looking into it and then getting hold of you and talking

03:28through it. Thank you very much. Mr. Chairman, I yield back.

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