Andrea Mitchell on Wednesday unsurprisingly attempted to politicize disaster relief, lecturing the FEMA administrator about responsibility for infrastructure. She even went back to Hurricane Katrina as an example. To her annoyance, FEMA’s Brock Long corrected her on the facts.
Mitchell lectured Long: “But the fact is, just after Katrina, there was terrible infrastructure in parts of New Orleans. That is a federal responsibility. These are American citizens.” The FEMA administrator shot back: “No, you are actually wrong on that. It’s not a federal responsibility to upkeep the infrastructure. Actually, most of the infrastructure” is “owned by the private sector.”
He added:
If you remember when I went back for the third supplemental after Congress I had to ask for special authority — that’s never been done before — to fix the deferred maintenance or the infrastructure that was allowed to rot. So we don’t own it.
Mitchell even touted Democratic talking points as a way to complain about disaster relief:
When $10 million is taken out of the FEMA budget and reallocated to ICE for detention facilities right before the hurricane season, those questions are being asked right now in the appropriation committee by Democratic senators.
Earlier on Wednesday, Long appeared on Good Morning America as co-host Robin Roberts hammered him on Puerto Rico. Long responded:
Look, you know, the effort into Puerto Rico was a huge effort by the federal government. The problem is is that FEMA was the only responder going in and we were the first responder and that's not the way that disaster response and recovery works.
A partial transcript is below. Click “expand” to read more:
Andrea Mitchell Reports
9/12/18
12:12
ANDREA MITCHELL: And you were in the Oval Office yesterday when President Trump frankly shocked a lot of people calling the Puerto Rico efforts unsung success, and this is after the new study ss that nearly 3,000 people were killed, American citizens and not 64 people as originally estimated by the government. How can we call Puerto Rico an unsung success?
BROCK LONG (FEMA administrator): Well, bottom line, any time you have one death from a storm, it is one too many and we work around the clock to prevent that everyday. I can't speak for the President, but I know that FEMA put 100 percent in Puerto Rico, and the people here are dedicated around the clock and stepped on all of the time. Bottom line is that we know and they know that we kept Puerto Rico from total collapse as a result of Maria. And any time that FEMA goes into an event and we’re the only responder for many months, that is not a desirable situation, and what are we doing to fix that? What the nation needs to understand is we are building the backbone of emergency management for the commonwealth and the 78 municipalities, and FEMA is the largest employer in Puerto Rico.
...
MITCHELL: Well, we have had teams down there non-stop, Gabe Gutierrez and a lot of others. But the fact is, just after Katrina, there was terrible infrastructure in parts of New Orleans. That is a federal responsibility. These are American citizens. What —
LONG: No, you are actually wrong on that. It’s not a federal responsibility to upkeep the infrastructure. Actually, most of the infrastructure in this country is owned by the private sector. FEMA does not control the maintenance of the infrastructure. And if you remember when I went back for the third supplemental after Congress I had to ask for special authority — that’s never been done before — to fix the deferred maintenance or the infrastructure that was allowed to rot. So we don’t own it.
MITCHELL: But the emergency response is the responsibility is the point I’m trying to make. Let me ask you about red tape. Because after all of this tragedy, people in Puerto Rico, and only 75 as of July 30th, 75 of 3,241 requests have been approved for Puerto Ricans was approved. Because of red tape, because they needed approvals from state officials when they for months and months did not have electricity or communications. Is there any way to clear up that kind of red tape.
LONG: I am sorry, ma'am. When it came to the amount of food, water and commodities that we put on the island, we put over $2 billion of commodities into Puerto Rico. But here again when it comes back to who actually runs the food chains, it is the major grocers, and there is all kinds of things, and what we need to do is like what we did with the Hurricane Elaine in Hawaii, we’re reaching out to the grocery stores and the major retail providers to understand what they have on the island and versus what we need to backfill because it is again a partnership. If anyone is depending on FEMA to be the sole and only responder, that is not right, and that is what what trying to the correct. With Puerto Rico, the amount of money and effort that’s being put into Puerto Rico, is it going to be a wonderful place. And we are absolutely working everyday to make Puerto Rico resilient and economically viable.
...
MITCHELL: And when you are dealing with the OMB, and the budget folks, do you have any say when they take $10 million and grant you, let’s stipulate that you’ve spend billions and billions of dollars on Puerto Rico and the rest of the storm recovery. But when $10 million is taken out of the FEMA budget and reallocated to ICE for detention facilities right before the hurricane season, those questions are being asked right now in the appropriation committee by Democratic senators.
LONG: Yeah. You know, right now that money has nothing to do with what you see behind you. It doesn’t pay for the response.
