'Causing a lot of problems': GOP frustration with Trump official is 'reaching a boiling point'
Republican members of Congress are growing 'incensed' with Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem for "slow walking" necessary government contracts and for being difficult to communicate with, according to a report in NOTUS.
This frustration, NOTUS says, is "reaching a boiling point," within both GOP leadership and Trump administration officials.
"You would think a former member of Congress would have more f—— respect for the institution she used to serve in,” one GOP member told NOTUS. “She’s causing a lot of problems.”
One such problem stems from a rule Noem implemented stating that she must review and approve any expense over $100,000 at the DHS which has slowed the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA)'s "normally routine process of distributing much-needed funds to states trying to rebuild in the aftermath of natural disasters," NOTUS explains.
Concerns among Republicans continue to grow "publicly and privately," NOTUS says, with one of the most vocal being Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC), who placed a hold on on all DHS nominees over a month ago in response to FEMA’S slow walking of billions of dollars worth of aid to his state to help rebuild after Hurricane Helene.
“I’m concerned that Western North Carolina gets the support that it needs,” Budd told NOTUS. “I am in communication with the secretary and have great hopes that this will be resolved.”
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WVA) said she’s “aware of one grant in our state that has been slow walked.”
And while a DHS spokesperson snarkily responded to NOTUS, asking “Who are these members complaining? Democrats who shut down the government?" Republicans are pointing to themselves for a change.
"“They’re very slow,” one senior Senate GOP aide told NOTUS. “Getting the secretary on the phone is basically impossible," they said referring to Noem.
The criticism of FEMA, NOTUS says, is not new, but that of Noem is a departure from the norm, saying when Republicans try to bring complaints to her, it's "crickets."
"While this is not a new issue — FEMA has been criticized for decades for making disaster aid money difficult to utilize in the past — it is one that is growing more dire under Noem’s leadership and directives," NOTUS says.
Noem was MIA when the House Homeland Security Committee released its witness list for its annual Worldwide Threats Assessment Hearing. While FBI Director Kash Patel and Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, both confirmed their attendance, Noem did not, NOTUS says.
"A source with direct knowledge of the matter said it was difficult to get Noem to attend. Despite being given multiple months of notice, she did not commit to attending the hearing," they report.
And while that hearing was postponned due to the government shutdown, NOTUS says Noem would have been the first secretary to miss it in over a decade.
"“The view among Republicans on the Hill is Secretary Noem is less interested in doing the blocking and tackling of her day job than she is with promoting herself in taxpayer-funded TV commercials,” one senior GOP aide told NOTUS.
