The driving force behind Noem’s unilateral austerity directive is Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Kenny Stancil, stancil@therevolvingdoorproject.org
Today, the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs (HSGAC) held a hearing on whether to confirm Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) to be Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and more.
One of the most destructive moves made by outgoing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem was her June 2025 directive requiring her personal approval of all grants and contracts valued over $100,000, which applies to nearly all of the department’s spending. A recent HSGAC Minority Staff Report report, produced by the offices of Ranking Members Gary Peters (D-MI) and Andy Kim (D-NJ), found that Noem’s rule delayed or left in limbo more than 1,000 funding awards, collectively worth billions of dollars, in the first three months it was in force. Recent reporting found that the extra layer of review has contributed to a multibillion-dollar bottleneck slowing the distribution of disaster relief. Noem’s policy remains active.
During Wednesday’s confirmation hearing, Sen. Kim asked Sen. Mullin if he would commit to revoking Noem’s “disastrous” $100,000 grant approval rule should he be confirmed as DHS Secretary. Mullin replied, “Absolutely… I’m not a micromanager.”
In response, Revolving Door Project Deputy Research Director Kenny Stancil issued the following statement:
“If Mullin is confirmed to lead DHS, Congress must ensure that he keeps his word to rescind Noem’s reckless $100,000 grant approval rule. Lawmakers must also recognize that while increasing the threshold to, say $200,000, would technically count as a repeal of Noem’s rule, they should do everything in their power to prevent a similar measure from being implemented. Otherwise we should expect more of the same at FEMA under Mullin’s watch: unacceptable delays that cause needless suffering and preventable deaths.
The driving force behind Noem’s unilateral austerity directive is Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought. Best thought of as the shadow president, Vought is the architect of Project 2025 and DOGE’s deadly rampage against the federal government’s public good functions, which he continues to carry out behind the scenes at OMB. Vought’s anti-democratic crusade revolves around using the levers of executive power to illegally block the disbursement of funding that Congress has appropriated but that he and President Donald Trump don’t personally support.
Vought is commandeering the federal money spigot to remake society in his reactionary image. Among other things, he is a climate change denier who wants to force states and individuals to shoulder a greater burden of responsibility for disaster readiness and response. Onerous contract reviews, like the ones imposed by Noem and other Cabinet members, are part of Vought’s toolkit to freeze certain forms of spending to advance right-wing priorities. We might call it impoundment by any means necessary.
As long as Noem’s illegitimate $100,000 grant approval rule (or a similar replacement) exists, the Vought-led evisceration of FEMA will continue, putting all of us at risk of avoidable calamities.”
Background
The lethal consequences of Noem’s $100,000 grant approval rule were immediately apparent when, during last July’s deadly flooding in Central Texas, Noem waited three days to authorize FEMA’s Urban Search and Rescue teams, postponed the delivery of aerial imagery, and allowed the contracts for hundreds of disaster assistance call center workers to lapse.
The negative effects continued after that, as the HSGAC Minority Staff Report makes clear. That report focuses on the derailment of contracts through early September. But the damage didn’t stop then. Earlier this month, for instance, search-and-rescue crews were forced to work without the aid of a key tornado-tracking tool that pinpoints the hardest-hit areas because Noem allowed a $200,000 contract to expire.
We’ve written about the devastating effects of Noem’s spending approval directive, a reflection of Vought’s selective impoundment agenda, and other attacks on the nation’s disaster management apparatus. See:
- The Trump Regime Is Making Disasters Worse – The American Prospect, January 9, 2026
- Trump Has Already Shattered FEMA Without Eliminating It – RDP blog post, December 11, 2025
- Trump’s Katrina Is Coming – The American Prospect, December 5, 2025
- Trump’s Homicidal Hurricane Policy – RDP report, August 29, 2025
- Map: Trump Has Often Delayed or Denied Disaster Aid – RDP tracker, updated daily
- Timeline: Trump’s Attacks on Disaster Preparedness and Response – RDP tracker, updated periodically
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