WASHINGTON, Aug. 20 -- Sen. Richard Blumenthal issued text of the following press release:
[Hartford, CT] - U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, a member of the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, today wrote to the new Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Cameron Hamilton demanding answers about how he plans to address critical staffing shortages at the agency.
Since the start of President Trump's second term, FEMA has lost a staggering 20 percent of its staff. A recent GAO report found that FEMA prioritized workforce reductions over ensuring that it had the staffing capacity to respond to current or future disasters. Region 1, which serves Connecticut, lost 292 employees - 12% of its staff -...