WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Andy Kim (D-NJ), Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs’ Subcommittee whose jurisdiction includes disaster management and FEMA,released the following statement condemning the Trump administration for suspending FEMA staff who sent a letter to Congress warning that the agency has been left unprepared to handle the nation’s emergency response: 

“To the FEMA employees who are being targeted after they raised concerns about our country’s disaster response readiness, I’m grateful for your service and willingness to take personal risk for our national security. I previously worked as a career federal government employee, and it is absolutely abhorrent to see the retaliation facing public servants trying to keep Americans safe.

“As experts at FEMA have outlined, the Trump administration’s actions to gut the agency and leave it without any sort of qualified leadership are not only dangerous but ignore the federal laws enacted in the aftermath of previous disasters to build the most effective, reliable, and prepared FEMA that Americans deserve.”

In the wake of the Trump administration’s attacks on FEMA, Senator Kim has remained committed to supporting and uplifting the importance of FEMA’s life-saving operations and working to ensure FEMA has a qualified and experienced administrator leading its emergency and disaster response. In July, the Senator sent two letters pressing Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem for answers on how FEMA is able to fulfill its mission on behalf of the American people. In a previous letter, Senator Kim also demanded Secretary Noem uphold her commitment to provide FEMA’s completed 2025 hurricane response plan. This came after a committee hearing in June where Senator Kim pressed on the critical need for this plan and the Department of Homeland Security’s central and critically important mission to respond to natural disasters. The Senator also has demanded the Trump administration reinstate FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program and not cancel critical grant funding it provides for local disaster mitigation. 

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