"FEMA Didn’t Answer Thousands of Calls From Flood Survivors, Documents Show" Article Reflection No. 145 (7/12/2025)

Article: “FEMA Didn’t Answer Thousands of Calls From Flood Survivors, Documents Show”

Reflection: 

In the article “FEMA Didn’t Answer Thousands of Calls From Flood Survivors, Documents Show,” journalist Maxine Joselow discusses the delay in the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)’s response to the Texas floods, specifically with well below half of flood survivors’ calls unanswered. With homeland security secretary Kristi Noem implementing a regulation that she had to approve spendings exceeding $100,000 herself, there has been criticism directed to her leadership and the subsequent delays in agency contract renewal, in addition to the three-day prolonged wait for FEMA search-and-rescue team deployments. The Trump administration initially discussed getting rid of FEMA altogether, but in recent times changed their approach to bringing reform by allocating more roles to the states. 

It pains me to think that there are people who are going through such difficult times and are unable to receive a response from FEMA via call. It frustrates me that the current administration is undermining the support system that previously provided more efficient, timely assistance. I also read somewhere (I think it was from another The New York Times article) about previous aid efforts being more bipartisan. That stood out to me because from the articles I’ve read about the Texas floods, there for sure has been a lot of persistent polarization which is also frustrating. I don’t want to be pessimistic, but everything seems to be so politically polarized today. Why does it have to be this way? Does it even have to be this way? Is this the type of government the Founding Fathers wanted?