Pallone, Stanton Call on Trump to Fire DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, FEMA Head Following Blockbuster GAO Report on Mismanagement

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Ranking Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Congressman Greg Stanton (D-AZ), Ranking Member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management, 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) reportfinding 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," Pallone, Stanton and 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.

Pallone and Stanton'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.

Pallone has consistently pressed the Trump administration over FEMA mismanagement and diversion of resources. This summer, he demanded Secretary Noem reverse her decision to pull half of FEMA's human resources and security staff for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) duty during the height of hurricane season. He also warned that FEMA's already thinned workforce, gutted by Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill," could not withstand further depletion while disasters mounted across the country.

In July, Pallone was among the first to call for Richardson's dismissal following FEMA's deadly delays in the Texas floods, pointing to his lack of emergency management experience and his failure to put search and rescue operations in place when lives depended on them.

The full letter can be found hereand below:

President Donald J. Trump

The White House
Office of the President
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20500

Mr. President:

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.[i]End the waste, fraud, and abuse. Put professionals back in charge of protecting Americans.

All Americans grieved for the Hill Country communities in Texas ripped apart by the extreme flooding of the Guadalupe River on Independence Day. The disaster and FEMA's botched response have dominated headlines as one of the deadliest rain events in recent U.S. history. More than 130 people lost their lives, including dozens of children who washed away in the night while FEMA fumbled the search and rescue response. Secretary Noem's failure to approve aerial imagery requests, cancelation of disaster-response call center contracts, and the delayed deployment of search and rescue teams until 72 hours after the flooding began is unforgivable. When it comes to disaster response and American lives, our nation should not improvise and, yet that seems to be the leadership principle of your appointees.

According to GAO's recent report, FEMA has violated the law six times since the beginning of your administration when it delayed or withheld the obligation of funding Congress approved for the Emergency Food and Shelter Program and Shelter and Services Program.[ii]Though GAO did "garner sufficient publicly available evidence… to draw conclusions about the agency's compliance" with the law, when GAO contacted DHS for additional information, Secretary Noem's team refused to respond regarding the status of lifesaving aid for disaster survivors.[iii]This decision is as disturbing as it is dangerous and suggestive of a coverup. FEMA cannot afford dead weight in the middle of peak hurricane season. This level of bureaucratic incompetence is putting lives at risk when the next natural disaster hits.

Alongside these failures, dedicated FEMA staff have raised the alarm through their Katrina Declarationthat Secretary Noem and Acting Administrator Richardson have abandoned the lifesaving federal disaster response framework.[iv]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.[v]They will further suffer if forced to produce information which a disaster may have rendered unavailable simply to receive food and water.

Each of these decisions is dangerous and the collective peril they create for the American people is astounding. In a separate analysis, GAO concluded that FEMA began the 2025 hurricane season, "with just 12% of its incident management workforce available" while supporting 91 major disaster and emergency declarations across the nation. Instead of championing a robust disaster management system, GAO concluded that Secretary Noem's staffing policies, "Could Mean Disaster for Future Response Efforts."[vi]The Katrina Declaration states that "two decades later, FEMA is enacting processes and leadership structures that echo the conditions PKEMRA was designed to prevent."[vii]Retaliation against whistleblowing staff who signed the Katrina Declaration only magnifies Secretary Noem's lost priorities and the diminished security of our homeland under her tenure.[viii]

Responding to disasters isn't just a job, it's America's promise to our citizens. That's why we are demanding you immediately dismiss Secretary Noem and Acting Administrator Richardson. The American people expect and deserve competency at the top of DHS and FEMA. Fire them now before another tragedy strikes.

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[i] U.S. Government Accountability Office, Department of Homeland Security-Application of the Impoundment Control Act to Federal Emergency Management Agency Fiscal Year 2025 Federal Assistance Appropriations (File B-337204.1), GAO (2025), available at https://www.gao.gov/assets/890/881507.pdf.

[ii]Ibid.

[iii]Ibid.

[iv] "Katrina Declaration and Petition to Congress," Stand Up For Science, available at https://www.standupforscience.net/fema-katrina-declaration.

[v] Sabrina Franza, Lauren Victory, and Sara Tenenbaum, "2 U.S. citizens among 7 detained at early morning Elgin, Illinois ICE raid," September 18, 2025, CBS News Chicago, available at https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/ice-raid-elgin-illinois/.

[vi] U.S. Government Accountability Office, "FEMA Staffing Shortage Could Mean Disaster for Future Response Efforts," September 17, 2025, available at https://www.gao.gov/blog/fema-staffing-shortages-could-mean-disaster-future-response-efforts.

[vii] "Katrina Declaration and Petition to Congress," Stand Up For Science, available at https://www.standupforscience.net/fema-katrina-declaration.

[viii] Brianna Sacks, "FEMA employees put on leave after criticizing Trump administration in open letter," August 26, 2025, The Washington Post, available at https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2025/08/26/fema-employees-leave-trump-administration-letter/. https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2025/08/26/fema-employees-leave-trump-administration-letter/https://https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2025/08/26/fema-employees-leave-trump-administration-letter/