Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) noted at a hearing that a fired FEMA staffer said workers were “unsafe” but said she made the “bad mistake” of telling them to avoid houses with Trump signs.
Fired FEMA employee Marn’i Washington was dismissed for telling workers in Florida to skip Trump houses during the Hurricane Milton recovery effort — but Washington says she was following orders, and that her instruction was a temporary “avoidance and de-escalation” measure. During Hurricane Helen, relief work was delayed because of an “armed militia” hunting FEMA workers.
Raskin is the ranking member on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, which held a hearing this week on FEMA’s response to hurricanes. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell testified Thursday that the incident was “isolated” and not part of a broader pattern.
In his opening statement, Raskin condemned Washington’s actions, but took pains to note the climate in which the incident occurred:
We could be here today celebrating the work force of 22,000 FEMA workers.
But instead, we’re invited to focus on one so-called intermittent employee in Florida whose team encountered what she called political hostility while canvasing door to door for FEMA in Florida.
Thereupon, as I understand it, she made the judgment that her workers were unsafe and she issued the order to her team not to go to any more houses in the neighborhood where there were Trump signs planted in the yard.
This was a bad mistake legally and constitutionally, which violated the core mission of FEMA and every federal agency to work on behalf of all Americans. It’s plainly wrong and divisive to use a presidential campaign lawn sign as a proxy for someone’s dangerousness.
The director of FEMA who’s with us today, Ms.. Criswell, properly acted immediately, within 36 hours of learning of the incident, because this action was an egregious departure from the norms of nonpartisanship, which must govern the conduct in the work of the federal workforce.
Federal workers have a duty to serve all Americans, regardless of their political identification. FEMA’s prompt and unequivocal personnel action in this case is powerful evidence that the civil service system is working not only to deliver quality public service, but also to correct employee errors and ensure that the people whose homes were shipped, as in this case, receive outreach and assistance.
And I understand that there were 20 homes that were skipped and then they were immediately addressed afterwards. But I want to ask about that.
Now, none of this is to deny for a moment that in recent months, FEMA aid workers have been forced to work under a cloud of propaganda and lies concocted to erode public trust in FEMA.
Because of this disinformation, many victims of hurricanes have rejected federal assistance and others have even harassed and threatened FEMA workers.
As Republican Congressman Chuck Edwards, who represents Asheville, North Carolina, said all the misinformation has been, quote, “not just unhelpful, but it’s been harmful.”.
I agree with my Republican colleagues and Administrator Criswell. Federal agencies must serve all Americans, and that means a federal workforce of nonpartisan professionals hired based on competence and merit.
Watch above via Pool.