Kristi Noem’s cost controls delayed FEMA deployment to Central Texas by several days

Due to cost cuts implemented by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) didn’t deploy key assets to Central Texas to deal with July Fourth’s deadly floods until Monday, according to CNN.

FEMA was ready to spring into action shortly after the disaster struck, but new bureaucratic snares slowed down its deployment, the cable news outlet reports, citing four officials inside the agency. Noem, whose department oversees FEMA, recently enacted a new rule requiring that she personally sign off on any contract or grant valued at more than $100,000.

As a result, key assets were delayed by several days, including deployment of Urban Search and Rescue crews, which are stationed regionally throughout the country. Normally, those squads would be staged immediately to deal with a disaster of the Texas flooding’s magnitude.

Considering the cost of federal disaster relief can run into the millions or billions of dollars, a threshold of $100,000 is “pennies,” according to a longtime FEMA official who spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity. As such, the low threshold for requiring approval directly from Noem has severely hampered FEMA operations, the official added.

“We were operating under a clear set of guidance: lean forward, be prepared, anticipate what the state needs, and be ready to deliver it,” the FEMA official told CNN. “That is not as clear of an intent for us at the moment.”

Tricia McLaughlin, a DHS spokeswoman, defended the newly implemented procedure in remarks to CNN, characterizing it as a cost-saving effort inside a once-dysfunctional agency

“FEMA is shifting from bloated, DC-centric dead weight to a lean, deployable disaster force that empowers state actors to provide relief for their citizens,” McLaughlin said in a statement. “The old processes are being replaced because they failed Americans in real emergencies for decades.”

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This article appears in Jun 26 – Jul 9, 2025.