FEMA Employees Return After Criticizing Trump Policies

0:00It's April 30th, from your city to your ears. This is Canada News Today, powered by AI. I'm Corey with the story. Fourteen FEMA employees are back on the job after months on paid leave. They were the only active staffers who publicly signed a letter last August. Calling out Trump administration policies, they said could lead to another. Katrina, level, disaster. That letter hit on things like reassigning workers to immigration duties, cutting training programs, and blocking big spending without approval. Earlier this week, they got emails telling them to return. Thursday, marking a shift under new Homeland Security Secretary, Mark Wayne Mullen. He's reversed his predecessor's rule, needing office okay, for any spend over $100,000 and freed up over $1 billion in. Backed up grants to states and tribes. One of the workers, a 24-year-old emergency specialist named Abby McCowraith, says she feels vindicated for speaking up, though she's wary of it.

1:00Might not stick. She called the leave a waste of taxpayer cash and got back to her Maryland office, waiting on her gear. The agency says it's stabilizing his workforce ahead of the 2026 hurricane season and the world cup. Meanwhile, Congress passed a bill Thursday that President Trump signed, pumping over $26 billion into DHS disaster funds, skipping immigration stuff. Mullen did some harsh moves from before, like abrupt firings and reassignments. FEMA still lacks a permanent administrator amid a long shutdown hangover, and next week a review council drops its big report on overhaul ideas. McCowraith plans to keep pushing until disaster aid gets fixed right.