WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Greg Stanton (D-AZ), Ranking Member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management, and Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Ranking Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, today led a new letter signed by 12 Democratic Members of Congress urging President Trump to immediately fire Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Acting Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator David Richardson, citing a damning Government Accountability Office (GAO) report finding FEMA violated federal law six times under Secretary Noem.
“We urge you to immediately fire Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Acting Administrator David Richardson. To serve at the highest levels of our disaster response agencies is to be entrusted with a profound privilege: protecting our nation when disaster strikes. Instead, their failures—marked by negligence and the raiding of taxpayer funds and government staff for political purposes, and efforts to cover it all up—have left communities abandoned in the face of tragedy and our nation the most vulnerable it has been to disasters since before Congress passed the Post-Katrina Emergency Response Act (PKEMRA). A new report from the non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) further confirms their dereliction of duty and violation of the law, underscoring the urgency of immediate action. End the waste, fraud, and abuse. Put professionals back in charge of protecting Americans,” Stanton, Pallon, and the 12 members of Congress wrote in their letter.
On September 15, 2025, a new GAO report confirmed that FEMA violated federal law six times under Trump’s leadership by withholding or delaying funds approved by Congress for lifesaving shelter programs. The GAO report also found FEMA began the 2025 hurricane season with just 12 percent of its incident management workforce available, warning that staffing policies under Secretary Noem could mean disaster for future response efforts.
Stanton and Pallone’s letter further cites whistleblowers from within FEMA who released a “Katrina Declaration” warning that Trump’s appointees are abandoning the post-Katrina reforms Congress put in place to guarantee robust federal disaster response. Staff allege the administration has shifted hundreds of millions of dollars from FEMA into immigration detention facilities, canceled billions in disaster mitigation grants, and retaliated against those who sounded the alarm.
“Alongside these failures, dedicated FEMA staff have raised the alarm through their Katrina Declaration that Secretary Noem and Acting Administrator Richardson have abandoned the lifesaving federal disaster response framework. The Trump administration has shifted hundreds of millions in FEMA funding to building immigration detention facilities, canceled billions of dollars in disaster protection grants, and sent half of FEMA’s human resources and security employees to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) when they are needed during the height of hurricane season. In addition, Secretary Noem’s new rule forcing states and aid groups to deny help to undocumented survivors is both cruel and unconstitutional. Citizens and lawful residents are already getting wrongfully detained as part of Secretary Noem’s quest to fill dangerous daily deportation quotas. They will further suffer if forced to produce information which a disaster may have rendered unavailable simply to receive food and water,” the Members wrote.
Stanton has consistently used his position as Ranking Member overseeing FEMA to advocate against dangerous cuts to emergency response funding and Secretary Noem's illegal efforts to gut the agency's staffing and leadership structure.
The full letter can be found here.