From CNN: FEMA’s response to Texas flood slowed by Noem’s cost controls.
“As monstrous floodwaters surged across central Texas late last week, officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency leapt into action, preparing to deploy critical search and rescue teams and life-saving resources, like they have in countless past disasters.
But almost instantly, FEMA ran into bureaucratic obstacles, four officials inside the agency told CNN.
As CNN has previously reported, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem — whose department oversees FEMA — recently enacted a sweeping rule aimed at cutting spending: Every contract and grant over $100,000 now requires her personal sign-off before any funds can be released.”
Recovery Diva 
“FEMA is shifting from bloated, DC-centric dead weight to a lean, deployable disaster force that empowers state actors to provide relief for their citizens,” [DHS spokesperson] McLaughlin told CNN in a statement. “The old processes are being replaced because they failed Americans in real emergencies for decades.”
In contrast to the DHS rhetoric, here are some facts from a “real emergency.”
On April 19, 1995, at a few minutes past nine in the morning local time, terrorists exploded a deadly bomb in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City.
Within minutes of the TV news broadcast, phones and pagers were going off all over FEMA Headquarters in Washington, DC. The Emergency Support Team was activated. Twenty-four-hour coverage at FEMA’s National Response Coordination Center began immediately. In Denton, Texas, FEMA’s Region VI Office had activated its own emergency operations center as well.
It was soon apparent that the most needed asset from FEMA would be help in looking for possible survivors beneath the concrete rubble of the bombed-out building.
FEMA Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) Task Forces from Phoenix, Arizona, and Sacramento, California, were deployed to Oklahoma City. The two task forces mobilized their people, gathered their gear and headed out. By 11:00 that night, both task forces had arrived in Oklahoma City. Eventually, 11 FEMA US&R task forces would be deployed to Oklahoma City to help in the search for survivors.
Total time elapsed since the bombing:
• FEMA Region VI Emergency Operations Center activated – about 30 minutes.
• FEMA staff deployed to Oklahoma City – about 45 minutes.
• First US&R task forces deployed – about two hours.
• First US&R task forces arrive in Oklahoma City – about 14 hours.
Not bad for a bloated DC-centric dead weight, huh?