Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has called on the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Deanne Criswell, to resign as the government body continues to face criticism over its response to Hurricane Helene.
The handling of the aftermath of Helene has become a political flashpoint in the final weeks of the election cycle. Republicans and residents in affected states have blasted FEMA for its response to the hurricane, which made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 storm on September 26 and carved a path of destruction as it moved north. One of the deadliest storms in U.S. history, Helene has claimed at least 200 lives in six states.
Former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, and his allies have repeatedly pushed false claims that the agency is diverting funds for disaster relief efforts to help migrants.
“FEMA Director Deanne Criswell will be coming before the Oversight Committee and will receive the full Kimberly Cheatle treatment. Probably worse,” Greene, a Georgia Republican, wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Cheatle, the former director of the Secret Service, resigned in July after being grilled by lawmakers during a congressional hearing about the agency’s security failures that led to the attempted assassination attempt on Trump in Pennsylvania.
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene questions then Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle during a House Oversight Committee in Washington D,C. on July 22, 2024. Greene has called for the resignation of the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Chris Kleponis/AFP via Getty Images
Greene added that FEMA “is confiscating supplies, blocking help to Helene survivors, and using disaster relief funds to house illegals. Resign Deanne.”
Newsweek has contacted Criswell for comment via an email to FEMA. Greene’s office has been contacted for further comment via email.
In another post, Greene shared a video where a FEMA employee expressed concerns about transgender migrants being misgendered in faith-based shelters.
“These are the unqualified idiots using FEMA disaster relief funds to house migrants and FAILING western NC Hurricane Helene victims,” Greene wrote. “They hate Christians.”
On its website, FEMA said claims that disaster funds were diverted to support international efforts or border-related issues were false.
The Disaster Relief Fund is a “dedicated fund for disaster efforts” and money meant for the fund “has not been diverted to other, non-disaster related efforts.”
FEMA also said that claims that the agency was turning away donations, stopping trucks or vehicles with donations, confiscating and seizing supplies are all false, and that aid is distributed “to survivors regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, English proficiency or economic status.”
Concerns about funding came as Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters on Wednesday that FEMA can meet immediate needs, but does not have enough funding to make it through the hurricane season.
Trump has repeatedly alleged that FEMA’s money issues are because the agency’s funds are being spent on migrants—but that is not the case.
Money for the Shelter and Services Program, which provides funds to reimburse communities and organizations taking in migrants, is distributed by FEMA. The agency’s website says it will administer about $640 million in the 2024 fiscal year.
However, that money doesn’t come from the agency’s Disaster Relief Fund, but from a separate pot of money provided by Congress for Customs and Border Protection.
Last week, Congress replenished the Disaster Relief Fund with $20 billion—FEMA’s existing level— as part of a stopgap spending bill to fund the government through December 20, but declined to approve supplemental money for disaster relief.
The bill was approved by the House and Senate shortly before Helene made landfall. The only lawmakers to vote against the measure were Republicans, including Greene and more than two dozen others who represent the states affected by Helene.
There were concerns about FEMA’s budget before Helene hit, with the agency imposing spending restrictions as it faced a multi-billion-dollar deficit.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Friday said President Joe Biden‘s administration was “disappointed” that additional disaster funding was not included in the stopgap spending bill.
“If congressional Republicans were serious—if they were really, truly serious—about doing something for the communities that were impacted by Hurricane Helene, they would join us in calling for additional funding,” she said.
“This is what we’ve been doing. And so, if they’re serious, they would get to—to work and get that done.” She said that allegations of the Biden administration using FEMA funding to support migrants are “categorically false.”
Biden, who traveled to survey the damage from Helene this week, urged congressional leaders to approve more funding in a letter on Friday.
“While FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund has the resources it requires right now to meet immediate needs, the fund does face a shortfall at the end of the year,” he wrote.
“Without additional funding, FEMA would be required to forego longer-term recovery activities in favor of meeting urgent needs. The Congress should provide FEMA additional resources to avoid forcing that kind of unnecessary trade-off and to give the communities we serve the certainty of knowing that help will be ongoing, both for the short- and long-term.”
He also called on lawmakers to act quickly to restore funding to the Small Business Administration’s disaster loan program.
