Congressional Democrats are calling for investigations and hearings into the federal government’s preparation and response in the wake of last week’s deadly floods in Texas.
On Monday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer asked the Commerce Department’s internal watchdog to immediately open an investigation into reported staffing vacancies at two Texas-based National Weather Service forecast offices.
In a letter to the acting inspector general, Duane Townsend, Schumer, a Democrat from New York, called the floods, which have killed more than 100 people, “a national tragedy which people across the country are mourning.”
“The American people deserve answers,” he wrote.
At the same time, a top House Democrat is calling for hearings on the flood disaster focused on the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s capacity to respond to catastrophic weather events given President Donald Trump’s statements that he may dissolve the agency.
“The Federal government must have the proper tools in place to prepare for and respond to disasters, and states must have access to these tools and the relevant data,” Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, said in a statement.
It’s unclear whether federal staffing levels played a role in the disaster. NWS forecasts were accurate and came well in advance of the disaster, though there are vacancies in several weather service offices in the state. Local officials have resorted to finger-pointing. Administration officials and Republicans have dismissed any concerns over staffing.
Trump last month said he wanted to “wean off of FEMA,” shifting responsibility for disaster recovery to state agencies. Some experts have said continued direct federal engagement in post-disaster settings is essential to restoring individuals, families and communities to healthy lives.
Citing climate change
On Sunday, the president issued a disaster declaration for Kerr County, which saw the most devastating impacts from the storm. The declaration allows flood victims to apply for grants to cover temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help with disaster recovery, the White House said.
In his statement Monday, Thompson said that as investigations begin, “this administration cannot pretend that disasters like this are happening in a vacuum. They cannot ignore the fact that natural disasters are becoming more severe and more frequent due to climate change.”
He added: “The federal government — as well as state and local governments — all have a role to play. We must also determine if any budget cuts or staffing shortages at the federal level — of any kind — made matters worse,” he added.
Schumer’s letter focuses on concerns that the National Weather Service, a NOAA agency overseen by the Commerce Department, was understaffed at two Texas forecast offices — San Angelo and Austin/San Antonio — prior to the flood event.
POLITICO’s E&E News reported that the San Antonio field office had several vacancies — including the office’s warning coordination meteorologist, a senior staff position.
Schumer asked Townsend, the inspector general, to investigate whether staffing issues contributed to “delays, gaps or diminished accuracy in forecasts related to the July 4 flooding.”
Schumer also asked the IG to investigate the Trump administration’s deep NOAA staff cuts under its government downsizing program. “The roles unfulfilled are not marginal, they’re critical,” he wrote.
In a Monday press briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt opened her remarks excoriating Democratic lawmakers for questioning whether NWS lacked the staff and resources to forecast the catastrophic flooding.
“Unfortunately, in the wake of this once-in-a-generation natural disaster, we have seen many falsehoods pushed by Democrats such as Senator Chuck Schumer and some members of the media,” she said. “Blaming President Trump for these floods is a depraved lie, and it serves no purpose during this time of national mourning.”
This story also appears in Climatewire.
