After controversial reports surfaced that FEMA had ordered relief workers to avoid the homes of Trump supporters in Florida, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) announced a plan to hold the agency accountable for the egregious example of political discrimination against taxpaying American citizens who fund the very government that is supposed to serve them. According to Donalds, the agency should be entirely separated from the Department of Homeland Security and be forced to report to the White House.
FEMA recently fired Marn’i Washington, the official who gave the orders to avoid houses that demonstrated support for President-elect Trump while canvassing homes in Lake Placid, Florida, while seeking to identify residents who could qualify for federal aid after the damage inflicted by Hurricane Milton.
Donalds was asked about the matter on “Fox News Sunday” by host Shannon Bream, who said, “I want to make sure I ask you about something reported by The Daily Wire.“ He continued, “They broke a story a couple of days ago about FEMA. My home state, as well as where you serve — Florida — and your district has been hit very hard by numerous big storms the last couple of years. Daily Wire [was] reporting that people were told when they’re out canvassing in central Florida looking for people who may need help, that FEMA workers were told to avoid homes that had Trump symbols or Trump flags.”
Donalds maintained that any federal employee involved in the scandal should be fired with no exceptions. “Anybody involved with that should be fired immediately, not asked to resign, not brought in front of a congressional hearing, they should be fired immediately,” The Florida Republican said. “We are not going to have a country where we’re going to decide who gets help and … who doesn’t based upon who you support politically or what you look like or anything else.”
He continued, “When it comes to FEMA, my recommendation for the Trump transition team is that FEMA becomes a standalone agency that directly reports to the White House. You have to get it out of Homeland Security. That agency is a massive labyrinth with a bunch of different departments.” Further explaining his plan for the federal agency, he said, “FEMA should be a direct report agency to the White House because when disaster recovery needs to take place, we need quick answers out of FEMA, not bureaucratic ones that go through the labyrinth of federal departments.”
Recounting the experience his constituents had with FEMA, Donalds added, “My district dealt with this firsthand a couple years ago during Hurricane Ian. It was very hard to get answers out of FEMA, still somewhat hard to get answers out of FEMA. I think if you talk to any governor, they would agree with this. FEMA needs to be a direct-report agency to the White House.”
Maintaining that the FEMA requires executive oversight after its recent failures, Donalds said, “That way, the people of America, when disaster strikes, they know that this has the first priority of the president. The president has eyes on it, and they’re going to get the help that they need immediately.”
Watch Donalds sound off on FEMA and outline a solution below:
Note: The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.
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