Lawmakers are looking at Sen. Markwayne Mullin’s nomination to be the new secretary of the Department of Homeland Security as an opportunity to make the Federal Emergency Management Agency more efficient.
Mullin, who is slated to testify at a confirmation hearing Wednesday and who the Trump administration is pushing to have in the role by the end of the month, will face senators from both parties who have long been frustrated with the way FEMA has functioned, particularly under the second Trump administration.
“I have a lot of issues with FEMA,” Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri who serves on the Senate’s homeland security committee, told NOTUS. “That agency, in my experience just in my state, consistently is slow to get on the ground. They are slow to approve individual assistance. They’re terrible at communicating with citizens and victims who have been affected. And all of that needs to change.”