Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem dismissed calls for her resignation following multiple reports that FEMA, under her department, had a slow response to deadly flooding in central Texas.
In response to a question on NBC News’s Meet the Press if there was a chance she would leave the role following Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-MA) call for Noem to resign, Noem laughed and said, “No, there’s not. And I hadn’t heard that, but I don’t care what she thinks.”
Multiple reports have highlighted the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s slowed response to the disaster, with the New York Times reporting that FEMA did not answer thousands of calls in the wake of the disaster in large part because the agency had fired hundreds of contractors at call centers.
On one day amid the flooding, the agency reportedly fielded 16,419 calls and answered 2,613, about 15.9%.
In response to those figures, Noem claimed, “Those people were in those call centers, and they were picking up the phone and answering these calls from these individuals. So that report needs to be verified. I’m not certain it’s accurate, and I’m not sure where it came from.”
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According to a CNN report, Noem recently implemented a sweeping rule to cut spending that requires any contract or grant worth $100,000 be approved with her personal signoff before funds can be released.
On that rule, Noem said, “It’s not extra red tape. It’s making sure everything is getting to my level and that it’s immediately responded to. This was not slowed down at all. In fact, it was much more responsive.”