XPost: alt.government.shills, talk.politics.guns, sac.politics
XPost: alt.government.employees

The Federal Emergency Management Agency on Tuesday suspended around 30 employees after those workers wrote to Congress warning that the Trump administration had gutted the nation’s ability to handle hurricanes,
floods and other extreme weather disasters.

Of the 182 FEMA employees who signed the letter to Congress, 36 attached
their names, while the rest withheld their identities for fear of
retaliation.

Those who used their names received emails on Tuesday night saying they
had been placed on paid administrative leave “effective immediately, and continuing until further notice,” according to copies of the emails
reviewed by The New York Times.

The emails did not provide a reason for the decision. Representatives
for FEMA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Colette Delawalla, the executive director of Stand Up for Science, an
advocacy group that helped publicize the letter, said the move appeared
to be an act of retaliation.

“Once again, we are seeing the federal government retaliate against our
civil servants for whistle-blowing — which is both illegal and a deep
betrayal of the most dedicated among us,” Ms. Delawalla said in a
statement.

The letter to Congress rebuked President Trump’s plan to drastically
scale down FEMA and shift more responsibility for disaster response —
and more costs — to the states. It was sent on Monday, days before the
20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, one of the deadliest and
costliest storms ever to strike the United States.

“Our shared commitment to our country, our oaths of office and our
mission of helping people before, during and after disasters compel us
to warn Congress and the American people of the cascading effects of
decisions made by the current administration,” the FEMA employees wrote.

They added that they hoped their warnings would “come in time to prevent
not only another national catastrophe like Hurricane Katrina, but the
effective dissolution of FEMA itself and the abandonment of the American
people such an event would represent.”

The group of suspended employees included two FEMA workers who helped
respond to the catastrophic floods that swept through Central Texas in
July, Ms. Delawalla said.

The Trump administration has taken other actions against employees who
have spoken out.

In July, the Environmental Protection Agency placed 144 staff members on administrative leave after the workers signed a letter accusing the administration of politicizing the agency. The E.P.A. also opened an investigation into whether the workers signed the letter while on the
job using government equipment.

And the Homeland Security Department, the parent agency of FEMA, has
ordered some employees to take polygraph tests to help determine whether
they leaked information to the news media, according to two people
briefed on the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because
they feared retribution.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/climate/fema-suspends-staff-who-critic ized-trump-cuts.html

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