The Federal Emergency Management Agency operates a Disaster Recovery Center on Maui and has approved $7 million in assistance to thousands of wildfire survivors. Online videos, however, are sharing a fabricated tale about FEMA’s operations, including a “shootout” with U.S. Marines. The bogus story originated on a satirical website.
Vice President Kamala Harris spoke about the need to provide “resources” for climate change mitigation “based on equity.” Republicans misleadingly claimed Harris said the Biden administration would provide federal hurricane relief based on race. We put her remarks in context.
President Donald Trump falsely claimed that Democrats “are trying to stop” disaster relief aid from going to several states. This is an old political trick of claiming the other party doesn’t support something, when both parties support it but have pushed different versions of the legislation.
President Donald Trump claims that “Puerto Rico got 91 Billion Dollars for the hurricane” and that it received “more money than has ever been gotten for a hurricane before.” Neither of those statements is true.
As Hurricane Florence continued to threaten the East Coast, Sen. Jeff Merkley released a document that he said shows nearly $10 million that could have been used for hurricane recovery efforts was diverted from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to immigration enforcement. The Department of Homeland Security insisted no relief funding was taken from FEMA. We review the facts.
Q: Did a Teamsters strike hinder aid efforts in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria?
A: No. Stories claiming so misrepresented an actual quote from an Air Force colonel.
Some Democrats overstated the potential impacts of a congressional stalemate that threatens to leave the Department of Homeland Security without funding after Feb. 27.