David Richardson, acting leader of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), on Wednesday defended his agency’s response to deadly Texas floods despite pushback from lawmakers.
During a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing, Richardson said he “can’t see anything” that FEMA did wrong in its response to the July 4 floods that killed 135 people.
His comments come despite bipartisan criticism and news reports suggesting the agency was slow to act and that the Trump administration’s austere policies delayed response times.
A particular point of contention in the hearing was a New York Times report that said call center contractors were laid off after their contracts ended on July 5. On July 6, FEMA only answered 35.8 percent of calls, according to the Times, while on July 7, they only answered 15.9 percent.
Richardson called the report “fake news” and said that “the vast majority of phone calls were answered.”
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