ICE Barbie Has GOP Angry Over Her Micromanaging, Which Screws Disaster Victims

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem,
AKA Ice Barbie, is one of the people demonstrators
will object to during tomorrow's No Kings marches.
One of the things she's doing is slow walking
FEMA disaster aid, leaving storm victims
wondering if they'll ever get help. 

It looks like millions of people will take to the streets across the nation Saturday in "No Kings" protest against the Trump administration's authoritarian tendencies. 

Much of the public's ire is with Department of Homeland Security Kristie Noem, or, as she's often called,  ICE Barbie. 

Many of the protestors  are fed up with the bullying, violent and legally dubious, to put it mildly, tactics of ICE agents who ultimately report to Noem. 

Meanwhile, frustration is also growing with ICE Barbie over disaster responses. 

ICE isn't the only thing that's got people hot and bothered, though it's likely the biggest problem people have with Noem. 

As climate change makes storms and other weather events worse and more extreme, more and more people will need disaster aid to cope with these calamities. 

However, Ice Barbie, whose agency oversees the Federal Emergency Management Agency,  is gumming up the works.  

According to Notus.org:

"Most of the frustration centers around a rule Noem implemented that she must review and approve any expense over $100,000 at the Department of Homeland Security. at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, housed in DHS, this directive has significantly slowed the agency's normally routine processor distributing much needed funds to states trying to rebuild in the aftermath of natural disasters. 

Noem's micromanaging became widely noticed during and after the horrific, deadly Fourth of July floods in the Texas Hill Country.

The $100,000 rule and ICE Barbie's slow response to everything meant FEMA could not pre-position Urban Search and Rescue teams in a timely manner.  Noem reportedly didn't authorize FEMA's deployment of the urban search and rescue teams until more than 72 hours after the flooding started.  

Apparently, this problem continues to fester, if not get worse. Says Notus.org:

Concerns among lawmakers continue to grow, but publicly and privately. Some members have taken their complaints to administration officials, multiple sources told NOTUS."

Those complaining include Republican lawmakers, who are walking a self-imposed high wire. On the one hand, they can't get Trump or any of his minions annoyed because, I don't know, they'll get sent to a gulag in Uganda or something. On the other hand, these GOP Congress creatures must make sure their constituents are getting the attention they probably voted for. 

That's certainly true in North Carolina, which is still trying to get its feet under themselves after the devastating blow from Hurricane Helene last year. 

Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) has put a hold on Department of Homeland Security nominees because FEMA is slow -walking billions of dollars worth of Helene aid to his state.  Budd said he doesn't have a problem with the DHS nominees and would vote for them, but first he wants to see promised aid get to the states Helene victims. 

Predictably, a DHS spokesperson got all snarky in a statement regarding Ice Barbie's $100,000 rule.  "Who are those members complaining? Democrats who shut down the government?," the spokesperson said in a statement. 

The spokeperson's statement claims Ice Barbie's policies have so far saved $13.2 billion because she reviews every DHS contract worth more than $100,000. "Despite constant criticism of this policy from the media and D.C. bureaucrats, results like these speak for themselves."

Or not. We don't know if the money "saved" is just because Ice Barbie hasn't gotten around to reviewing contracts that have been sitting around forever. I would like to see a spreadsheet of the contracts she rejected or modified to save money. 

FEMA has always been slow with relief money, especially once the immediate aftermath of the disaster has passed. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, including liberal Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt have pushed for reform. 

But even getting Noem's attention is quite an effort. She's always cosplaying ICE goons, or getting in front of TV cameras to snarl at immigrants. 

'"The view among Republicans on the Hill is Secretary Noem is less interested in doing the blocking and tackling of her day job that she is with promoting herself in taxpayer funded TV-commercials,"' one GOP aide told NOTUS.

There's much more in this link to the NOTUS article.