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Members and FEMA clash over call-center performance, contract lapse and $100,000 sign-off policy
Summary
Lawmakers cited documents showing large numbers of unanswered calls after the Texas floods and blamed a $100,000 contract sign-off policy; FEMA disputed the figures and said the majority of calls were answered and that contract lapses did not occur.
Members cited internal documents and press accounts alleging that FEMA call centers answered a small fraction of incoming calls in the days after the Texas floods and that a requirement for Secretary Noem's sign-off on contracts above $100,000 complicated continuing call-center support.
Representative Friedman read agency figures from documents she said showed a steep drop in answered calls after July 5, reporting that on July 6 FEMA received 2,363 calls and answered 846 (about 36%), and that on July 7 the agency fielded 16,419 calls and answered 2,613 (about 16%). Friedman said those figures came from official documents and contractors. Representative Stanton and others also said Secretary Noem's requirement to personally approve contracts over $100,000 created a bottleneck that delayed urban search-and-rescue teams and led, they said, to expiring call-center contracts.
FEMA's response. Acting Administrator David Richardson disputed those characterizations in his testimony, saying "the majority of phone calls were answered" and that "there was never a lapse in the contract." He told the panel the agency surged support to call centers when the disaster occurred and provided figures that most calls were answered within three to ten minutes.
Why it matters. The dispute concerns whether survivors received timely help during a high-casualty disaster and whether internal agency contracting rules created avoidable interruptions in services that survivors rely on for shelter, recovery assistance, and case intake.
Requested follow-up. Multiple members asked FEMA to provide the committee with the raw call-center records and source data for the figures cited in public reporting and by committee members so the committee can reconcile the differing accounts.
Ending: The subcommittee asked Administrator Richardson to provide documentary evidence and promised oversight if the records do not support the administration’s account.
