Due to cost cuts implemented by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) didn’t deploy key assets to Central Texas to deal with July Fourth’s deadly floods until Monday, according to CNN. FEMA was ready to spring into action shortly after the disaster struck, but new bureaucratic snares slowed down its deployment, the cable news outlet reports, citing four officials inside the agency. Noem, whose department oversees FEMA, recently enacted a new rule requiring that she personally sign off on any contract or grant valued at more than $100,000.
