FEMA caseworker says halted helpline contract, staffing cuts left survivors waiting and staff on leave

A FEMA caseworker said in testimony that policy changes and contract cancellations at the agency have worsened disaster response and left survivors waiting for help. Speaking in a personal capacity, the caseworker described how a halted helpline contract and staff cuts forced agency employees to handle overwhelming call volumes and contributed to delays in assistance.

The caseworker, who identified themself as a FEMA caseworker in the Individuals and Households Program, said the agency "dismantled entire programs, canceled contracts, cut staff, censored research, delayed and denied assistance dollars," and that those changes made it harder for families affected by disasters to get timely aid. As an example, the speaker said a policy requiring the secretary of homeland security to approve FEMA expenses over $100,000 led to the FEMA helpline contractor being halted in July, leaving calls unanswered during a deadly Fourth of July flash flood in Central Texas.

"Each number on my screen was a person or family waiting for help that I couldn't give them," the caseworker said, describing being reassigned from casework to answer the growing helpline queues.

The witness said they and more than 190 current and former FEMA employees signed a "Katrina declaration" criticizing internal cuts; the declaration was sent to Congress on 08/25/2025, and the speaker said all 14 public signers still at the agency were placed on administrative leave the next day. According to the testimony, the signers were subjected to a retaliatory investigation. The caseworker said they filed a whistleblower complaint with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, which intervened and obtained a stay that briefly cleared the way for reinstatement.

The speaker described a reversal: they said they were told they would be reinstated around Thanksgiving and returned to work on Monday, Dec. 1, but that a few hours later a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson characterized the reinstatements as unauthorized and the speaker was placed back on administrative leave. "Saying goodbye to my coworkers again felt like a punch in the stomach," the caseworker said, adding that they remain on leave with no indication of how long it will last or whether they will be fired.

The witness also warned that, starting Jan. 1, DHS began terminating a subset of FEMA employees known as CORS, calling those corps members the "rapidly deployable backbone" of FEMA response. The speaker said terminations were paused during a recent winter storm but said the process may resume, which they said would further strain response capacity.

The caseworker concluded with three specific asks of Congress: support the FEMA Act of 2025 to elevate FEMA to a cabinet-level agency; include protections for core FEMA employees in the Department of Homeland Security continuing resolution; and conduct aggressive oversight using the Katrina declaration. "Please fix this before it's too late," the speaker said.

Note on a discrepancy in the testimony: the transcript refers to "secretary of homeland security, Kristi Noem." Public records identify Kristi Noem as the governor of South Dakota; the testimony's attribution of a DHS title to that name appears inconsistent with known public officeholders and the transcript does not clarify the identity of the current DHS secretary. The article reports that the speaker attributed the approval policy to the DHS secretary as stated in their remarks.