To watch Senator Capito opening statement, click here or on the image above

To watch Senator Capito’s second first round of questions, click here. To watch Senator Capito’s second round of questions, click here.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, today participated in a hearing on the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) response to COVID-19 and other challenges. FEMA’s Acting Administrator Robert J. Fenton, Jr. testified on behalf of the agency’s response to COVID-19, recent severe storms, and the current crisis on our southern border. The hearing was the subcommittee’s first of 2021.

HIGHLIGHTS:

ON THE BORDER CRISIS: “Last month, Secretary Mayorkas acknowledged that we are headed towards more southwest border encounters than we’ve seen in 20 years, and the numbers are proving him correct. In March, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) faced 172,331 encounters at the southwest border, which is 66 percent higher than March of the last border serge, which was in March of 2019 where there were 103,731 encounters. We can’t dismiss these numbers as a seasonal migration pattern. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been forced to set up multiple influx facilities to deal with the surge at the border, Health and Human Services (HHS) has already set up 10 emergency facilities to house nearly 20,000 migrant children spending $60,000 dollars a week in conditions HHS would admit that amount to little more than crisis care. CBP was so overwhelmed that The Washington Post has reported that they are seeing 1,000 get-a-ways per-day…that’s tens of thousands of individuals who are now in this country who all we know about them is a fleeting footprint or an article of clothing left behind. CBP has had to resort to releasing illegal immigrants from custody into the U.S. without a notice to appear in immigration court, which I can describe as nothing less than a failure of our immigration system.”

ON FEMA COVID RESPONSE:  “We are all keeping a close eye on the progress we are making concerning COVID-19, including the various Federal support mechanisms in place to distribute much needed PPE, vaccines, and other necessary supplies and personnel to combat this pandemic.  FEMA is playing an integral role in that effort, helping to support vaccine distribution centers, resupply States with necessary PPE, and provide additional resources to ensure success.” 

ON SUPPORT FOR OUR VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTERS: “I wanted to ask a quick question on the supplemental firefighter grants. We put a lot of money into, a total of $400 million, was provided for assistance to firefighter grant programs. Of this amount, $76 million has been obligated to the Assistance to Firefighter Grant Program (AFG) and I’m concerned about the volunteer firefighters. I’ve got numerous, anecdotal evidence, that because of the lockdown and COVID that our volunteer firefighters have not been able to raise the money, through a boot drive or a bake sale or something else they really rely every year to raise their discretionary dollars. Apparently volunteer firefighters, and we kept trying to direct them to this program, sometimes their applications are not sufficient or in a timely fashion or something like that. Is there any way that FEMA could be more helpful? Or we could be more helpful to FEMA to get information to our volunteer firefighters?”

ON PREPARING FOR FUTURE NATURAL DISASTERS: “Looking to the future, obviously, hurricane and wildfire season is right around the corner. Are you concerned with the way you are spread out due to COVID and everything else anticipating fire and hurricane season? You’ve mentioned you have adequate staffing ability for any disaster, but I was curious to know if you’re concerned about what could happen during these two seasons.”

ON FEMA’S ASSISTANCE DURING THE 2016 FLOOD: “On a personal note, the three of us in the room have seen the impact FEMA has and can have during and after a disaster. The COVID Response, reopening, and operating support FEMA continues to provide to West Virginia after our flood are much appreciated. In 2016, we lost 23 lives that day, hundreds of homes, millions of dollars in damage. Nearly five years later, we still remember the things that we lost and recognize the ongoing efforts. I would like to recognize you, and your now deputy-acting secretary MaryAnn Tierney, who was our regional director, for her and your continued attention to our recovery.”

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