Democratic lawmakers have introduced a resolution condemning what they believe is “disinformation” about the federal government’s response to recent hurricanes.
House Resolution 1555 specifically condemns the “spreading of disinformation and malicious rumors that have led to threats against disaster response personnel.”
The resolution, led by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), says that in the weeks following Hurricanes Helene and Milton, there has been a “reckless promotion of disinformation and malicious rumors directed at the disaster response operations of FEMA.” This “disinformation” has “disturbed disaster survivors and potentially caused many such survivors to forfeit their deserved Federal support, both now and in the future” and has undermined public confidence in officials.
“[I]t is unacceptable for leaders with national platforms to promote disaster response disinformation and malicious rumors that have led to distrust, mass confusion, anger, and credible threats to disaster response personnel,” the resolution states.
Thirty-six House Democrats joined Thompson in the resolution.
Last month, FEMA launched a “rumor control” page to combat “false” information surrounding the agency’s response to Hurricane Helene.
“Do your part to stop the spread of rumors by doing three easy things,” the webpage reads, listing: “find trusted sources of information,” “share information from trusted sources,” and “discourage others from sharing information from unverified sources.”
Some of the “rumors” on the website included “FEMA does not have enough money to provide disaster assistance for Helene” and “funding for FEMA disaster response was diverted to support international efforts or border related issues.”
According to Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), FEMA has directed billions of dollars for disaster relief to COVID-19 efforts. COVID-19 funding falls under non-immediate disaster relief.
“The depletion of the [Disaster Relief Fund] is of particular concern considering the sheer amount of funding that has gone to COVID-19 projects nearly a year and a half after the COVID-19 emergency – which should have been terminated much earlier – was terminated,” he added, noting that an estimated $1.2 billion of the COVID-19 funding went to California alone.
Although the pandemic is over, the disaster relief fund will “continue to spend billions on COVID-19, which will jeopardize FEMA’s ability to use the DRF to respond to disasters like Hurricanes Helene and Milton for years to come,” he warned.
