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Lawmakers used the hearing about improvements to FEMA disaster response to address reports that FEMA support was impaired by bureaucratic delays that slowed the deployment of urban search and rescue teams and left the agency's call centers unstaffed, which Richardson denied. The response "brought the maximum amount of capability to bear in Texas at the right time and the right place,� he said.

Richardson's appearance came after a wave of criticism and fallout over the response, including the resignation Monday of FEMA's urban search and rescue leader. President and have touted the robust federal support for Texas despite their .

Reports of delays on the ground denied

The acting administrator denied reports that FEMA urban teams were delayed over 72 hours because of a new rule imposed by Noem that she must personally approve any contract of $100,000 or more. Richardson said a Texas-based FEMA task force was on the ground on July 4, along with other Homeland Security assets like the Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection, and that additional support came within “24 hours� of being requested.

Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Ariz., pushed back on FEMA's readiness, asking why more of the 28 FEMA urban search-and-rescue teams located around the country were not on standby ahead of receiving a request from the state of Texas. “It haunts me that we could have had more urban search and rescue pre-positioned in place,� said Stanton. “That was a choice.�

The leader of FEMA's urban search-and-rescue effort, Ken Pagurek, expressed frustration with the delays to colleagues before resigning Monday, according to CNN. In response to Pagurek's resignation, a DHS spokesperson told The Associated Press, “It is laughable that a career public employee, who claims to serve the American people, would choose to resign over our refusal to hastily approve a six-figure deployment contract without basic financial oversight."

The Texas Division of Emergency Management did not respond to a request for comment on whether search-and-rescue efforts were impacted by delayed deployment of the FEMA teams.

Richardson also denied a report from The New York Times that 84% of calls to FEMA went unanswered on July 7, three days after the July 4 floods, because Noem let lapse contract renewals with outside call centers. The contracts were renewed July 10, according to The Times.

“The vast majority of phone calls were answered. There was never a lapse in the contract,� said Richardson, echoing Noem's statements that the report was “fake news.�

Richardson defended his absence from the ground efforts in Texas, saying he worked from Washington, D.C., “to kick down the doors of bureaucracy� and denying suggestions that Trump or Noem told him to stand down. He did not visit Texas until July 12.

FEMA's fate is still in question

Since the Texas floods, Trump has deflected questions about FEMA’s fate. In June, he said he wanted to begin “phasing out� FEMA after the hurricane season “to wean off of FEMA and bring it to the state level.�

Trump has been criticized for , causing some states to wait as long as two months for approval to receive assistance to repair public infrastructure or help survivors.

Lawmakers pressed Richardson on more general issues of FEMA reform as well, including concerns over long overdue preparedness grant funding, flood insurance and rules about how much financial assistance survivors can receive.

Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers asked about the fate of the program, which Trump canceled earlier this year. The grants supplied hundreds of millions of dollars in disaster mitigation funding. over the loss of funds.

On Tuesday, Trump approved disaster declaration requests for Michigan, Oregon, Indiana, Kansas, West Virginia, Missouri and New Mexico and expanded assistance in Kentucky.

Rep. Bob Onder, R-Mo., asked Richardson why it took a month for his state to get a disaster declaration. “My constituents were frustrated by how long it takes to get temporary housing and debris removal assistance," Onder said. Richardson referred back to Texas' declaration request: “We turned that around within just a couple hours.�

A Trump-appointed FEMA review council is in the process of crafting recommendations to the president on changes to the agency. Noem, who co-chairs the council, told its members five days after the Texas floods that FEMA “needs to be eliminated as it exists today and remade as a responsive agency.�

Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., said he and Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., would introduce the bipartisan Fixing Emergency Management for Americans Act this week, which would make FEMA an independent, Cabinet-level agency, incentivize states to prioritize resilience and improve aid for survivors. “We don’t need to wait for a FEMA review council," said Larsen. “We’ve been reviewing FEMA for a long time.�