Markwayne Mullin, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security, used his Senate confirmation hearing to project a more conciliatory approach to federal disaster management and to reject eliminating the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Mullin told lawmakers that FEMA has a core role and that he wants the agency to be able to do its job, language that raised cautious hopes among disaster response officials who have watched FEMA roiled by leadership and policy turbulence.
During exchanges in the hearing, Mullin told fellow Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma that FEMA “It’s got a great mission, and I think people at FEMA want to do their job,” according to the account of the hearing. Mullin also described his goals as centered on improving how FEMA supports jurisdictions affected by disasters, including measures aimed at making disaster response more timely and effective.
Mullin told the panel that he supported efforts to make FEMA more effective and to speed up payments to states and local governments. He said he also wanted FEMA to better serve rural communities, framing the changes as practical steps to help communities receive assistance sooner after disasters.
The nominee also pointed to federal policy steps he said he would reverse. In questions from Democratic Sen. Andy Kim of New Jersey about specific FEMA and disaster-aid rules, Mullin said he would revoke Kristi Noem’s directive that required Noem to personally approve expenditures over $100,000—an requirement lawmakers have criticized as slowing disaster response and recovery.
Kim pressed Mullin on broader changes to the agency, and Mullin described a role for FEMA that would emphasize local leadership with the federal government acting in a supporting capacity. Mullin also acknowledged to Kim that he was looking at potential nominees for a permanent FEMA administrator, while noting that Trump has not yet nominated a permanent head for an agency that has cycled through temporary leaders.
Mullin said he would address staffing needs while stopping short of committing to whether FEMA has too many employees. In the exchanges with Kim, Mullin said he intended to work within the law and the requirements of him as secretary, adding that retaliating against whistleblowers was against the law.
Mullin’s hearing remarks came against a backdrop of upheaval during Noem’s DHS tenure, including staff reductions, program cuts, and delays affecting disaster declarations and spending. The outgoing administration’s FEMA review process was also described as leaving states and other jurisdictions waiting on recommendations; a Trump-appointed FEMA Review Council report intended to outline overhaul recommendations was months late, leaving uncertainty about the future level of federal disaster support.
In comments that suggested an opening for operational changes, Mullin told Kim that for serious FEMA changes, it could require policy changes, particularly because senators set the policies and mission for FEMA. Kim had complained that Noem had not engaged senators during her approach, and Mullin responded by indicating that lawmakers could play a role in shaping any reforms.
Reactions among current and former FEMA officials were generally supportive of Mullin’s tone. Deanne Criswell, FEMA administrator under Democratic President Joe Biden, said Mullin “gets the importance of FEMA” and understands that the partnership with FEMA is essential, while Pete Gaynor, a FEMA administrator during Trump’s first term, said Mullin’s remarks were “an impressive and meaningful first step forward.”
Still, not everyone was ready to credit the hearing with a shift that would necessarily match proposals previously discussed by Trump and Noem-era FEMA reviews. Amanda Devecka-Rinear, executive director of the New Jersey Organizing Project, said she wanted to wait to see Mullin’s words put into action, arguing that disaster survivors had been misled by what she called hollow rhetoric before.
It also remained unclear whether Mullin would embrace ideas that have been floated for FEMA, such as giving states block grants rather than reimbursements or revising the thresholds states and local communities must meet to qualify for a major disaster declaration. Disaster experts and some local stakeholders have cautioned that such changes could lead to less money for states, tribes, and territories, and they have warned that budget trade-offs and timing could become new constraints for governments trying to adjust quickly after disasters.
Mullin’s hearing also did not include a direct commitment to reinstating FEMA employees who were put on leave after signing an August public letter of dissent opposing policies they said weakened the agency. But he told Kim he would work within the law as secretary.