Merkley, Wyden, Colleagues Demand FEMA Responds to Questions about Disaster Victim Data, Mass Firings, and Funding Freezes
Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden joined their colleagues to call on the leadership of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to respond to unanswered questions about 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 grants will impact the agency’s capacity to mitigate and quickly respond to disasters.
Merkley and Wyden joined the effort led by Senators Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), alongside Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). Merkley and Wyden previously requested 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.
In their letter to the Senior Official Performing the Duties of FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton, the Senators wrote: “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.”
The Senators continued: “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.”
“In addition to mass firings, stakeholders have informed us that the Administration has suspended disbursement of certain FEMA grants…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,” the Senators stressed.
They concluded, “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.”
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.
Read the full text of the letter.
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