Elijah Cummings Rips FEMA Chief for Puerto Rico Failures

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) tore into Trump FEMA Administrator Brock Long for a litany of failures involved in the federal preparation for and response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.

The encounter came at hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, on which Cummings is the ranking Democrat.

This hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee was the FIRST on hurricane preparedness since Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in the fall of 2017. Democrats on the committee had requested such a hearing on Sept. 29, 2017. It finally happened on Nov. 29, 2018, after Republicans delayed until, not only after the midterms, but also on the same day as Dem. caucus leadership elections. They wouldn't even move the hearing up by 30 minutes to allow Democratic members to question Brock Long for a few minutes. So, the Democrats had to submit their questions in writing, and, with it, ranking member Elijah Cummings offered this statement before he and most Democrats had to leave. He implied that it will be a different ballgame next session.

Brock Long, the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), testified on disaster response and answered several questions about the lessons he and his agency learned from their response to Hurricane Maria . Members also questioned FEMA’s response, or lack thereof, to requests for information and documentation related to response and recovery efforts over the 16-month period leading up to this hearing.