Padilla, Welch Continue to Push FEMA for Answers on Disaster Victim Data, Mass Firings, Funding Freezes
Senators to FEMA: “The Administration’s destructive approach will not assist the disaster-impacted communities across the country hoping to rebuild and move forward. To the contrary, it will leave the nation more vulnerable to future disasters and less prepared to pick up the pieces when the dust settles.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) led nine of their colleagues in calling on Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) leadership to respond to unanswered questions about President Trump and Elon Musk’s so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) and its reported access to sensitive disaster victim data. The Senators also demanded answers about how FEMA’s firing of hundreds of personnel and freezing of certain critical grants will hamper the agency’s capacity to mitigate and quickly respond to future disasters.
Senators Padilla and Welch previously led their colleagues in demanding details on who has been granted access to victim data, the extent of access to that data, and FEMA’s protocols for ensuring Americans’ data is not misused, but FEMA failed to respond.
“Our constituents—rebuilding from severe flooding in Vermont, Minnesota, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, as well as catastrophic wildfires in Hawai’i, New Mexico, Oregon, and California—have experienced first-hand the shortcomings of the federal approach to disaster resilience and recovery,” wrote the Senators. “Instead of addressing their needs and concerns, the Trump Administration has taken a sledgehammer to the foundation of FEMA. We agree FEMA needs fixing, but effective reform requires thoughtful and precise solutions, not brute force and arbitrary terminations.”
“These apparent freezes have left frontline organizations in limbo and our communities in jeopardy. The Administration’s destructive approach will not assist the disaster-impacted communities across the country hoping to rebuild and move forward,” continued the Senators. “To the contrary, it will leave the nation more vulnerable to future disasters and less prepared to pick up the pieces when the dust settles.”
The Senators also criticized FEMA’s firings of over 200 probationary employees despite longstanding serious staffing shortages, and they called out the lack of evidence surrounding the Administration’s claim that only “non-mission critical” personnel were impacted. The Senators warned that “these firings will undermine federal disaster response and hamper FEMA’s ability to provide critical support to our constituents.”
Senators Padilla and Welch were joined by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).
In their letter, the Senators requested prompt responses to the questions posed in their previous inquiry, as well as responses to the following questions regarding reports of mass firings and funding freezes at FEMA:
- Under what authority has FEMA fired individuals between January 20, 2025, and March 5, 2025?
- What procedures did FEMA follow to evaluate the performance of those individuals prior to termination?
- What procedures did it follow to evaluate the impact of each firing on the overall performance of FEMA operations?
- From what positions has FEMA fired individuals between January 20, 2025, and March 5, 2025? Please provide a complete list of impacted positions and the associated duties of each position.
- How many grant programs has FEMA frozen for any duration of time between January 20, 2025, and March 5, 2025?
- Please list the frozen grant programs. Of those, how many remain frozen?
- How many individual recipients have had their funding frozen, disaggregated by each program?
- What evaluations, if any, has FEMA conducted to review the impact of these frozen disbursements on disaster-impacted communities? Please provide detailed accounting of the results of these evaluations.
Senator Padilla has fought relentlessly to secure and protect Southern Californians’ access to desperately needed disaster relief aid. In the immediate aftermath of the Los Angeles fires, Padilla and Senator Schiff led 47 bipartisan members of the California Congressional delegation in successfully urging President Biden to grant Governor Gavin Newsom’s request for a major disaster declaration to expedite timely relief to Los Angeles County residents impacted by these disasters. Earlier today, Padilla, Schiff, and Representatives Ken Calvert (R-Calif.-41) and Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.-18) led the entire bipartisan California Congressional delegation in urging Senior Congressional leadership to provide additional disaster relief funding and resources to help Los Angeles County communities rebuild. Yesterday, Padilla, Schiff, Lofgren, and Calvert pushed FEMA to extend the application deadline for federal disaster assistance for victims of the Los Angeles fires. Padilla previously delivered remarks on the Senate floor urging his Republican colleagues and President Trump to provide essential disaster recovery aid to California without conditioning it on the passage of partisan legislation.
Full text of the letter is available here and below:
Dear Mr. Hamilton,
We write to follow up on our unanswered inquiry dated February 14, 2025, about the “Department of Government Efficiency’s” (DOGE) reported access to sensitive disaster victim data. Recent reports that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has fired hundreds of personnel and frozen certain grants have deepened our concerns about FEMA’s capacity to quickly respond to disasters and help communities prepare for future disasters.
Our constituents—rebuilding from severe flooding in Vermont, Minnesota, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, as well as catastrophic wildfires in Hawai’i, New Mexico, Oregon, and California —have experienced first-hand the shortcomings of the federal approach to disaster resilience and recovery. Instead of addressing their needs and concerns, the Trump Administration has taken a sledgehammer to the foundation of FEMA. We agree FEMA needs fixing, but effective reform requires thoughtful and precise solutions, not brute force and arbitrary terminations.
Last month, FEMA fired over 200 probationary employees, including new hires and those recently promoted, despite longstanding and severe staffing shortages. The Administration claims only “non-mission critical” personnel were impacted by the firings. However, we have yet to receive any evidence to support that assertion. Instead, reporting indicates that these firings will undermine federal disaster response and hamper FEMA’s ability to provide critical support to our constituents.
The Administration is now reportedly planning to fire even more FEMA employees. We know every $1 spent on disaster resilience and preparedness ultimately saves the country $13. Mass firings at FEMA will almost certainly delay the implementation of these cost-saving resiliency measures—at the expense of the American taxpayer and disaster-impacted communities.
In addition to mass firings, stakeholders have informed us that the Administration has suspended disbursement of certain FEMA grants. In Vermont, a federal subrecipient received notice that it could not access its Next Generation Warning System grant to modernize aging broadcast equipment and emergency alert systems. Moreover, in Oregon, a local health care provider has been unable to move forward with a multi-million-dollar project essential for enhancing emergency response capabilities and capacity due to the agency-wide communications freeze. These apparent freezes have left frontline organizations in limbo and our communities in jeopardy.
The Administration’s destructive approach will not assist the disaster-impacted communities across the country hoping to rebuild and move forward. To the contrary, it will leave the nation more vulnerable to future disasters and less prepared to pick up the pieces when the dust settles.
To keep our communities safe, we request a prompt response to the questions posed in our prior letter, referenced above, as well as responses to the following questions no later than March 31, 2025:
1. Under what authority has FEMA fired individuals between January 20, 2025, and March 5, 2025?
a. What procedures did FEMA follow to evaluate the performance of those individuals prior to termination?
b. What procedures did it follow to evaluate the impact of each firing on the overall performance of FEMA operations?
2. From what positions has FEMA fired individuals between January 20, 2025, and March 5, 2025? Please provide a complete list of impacted positions and the associated duties of each position.
3. How many grant programs has FEMA frozen for any duration of time between January 20, 2025, and March 5, 2025?
a. Please list the frozen grant programs. Of those, how many remain frozen?
b. How many individual recipients have had their funding frozen, disaggregated by each program?
c. What evaluations, if any, has FEMA conducted to review the impact of these frozen disbursements on disaster-impacted communities? Please provide detailed accounting of the results of these evaluations.
Sincerely,