DHS boss rescinds restrictive $100,000 approval process, giving hope to FEMA relief efforts

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, March 24, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Updated [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day], [year] Washington (AP) — Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Wednesday rescinded a rule that DHS expenditures over $100,000 be personally approved by his office, ending a widely criticized policy implemented by his predecessor Kristi Noem that critics said put a particular burden on the Federal Emergency Management Agency ’s work aiding disaster response and recovery. The decision marks the first major action by the new Homeland Security leader, sworn in last week, to change a policy implemented by Noem, whom President Donald Trump fired in March. Mullin’s move is expected to ease a spending bottleneck that lawmakers and states said delayed disaster response and recovery funds, though those impacts are unlikely to be widely felt until after the end of the DHS shutdown, now in its 46th day. A DHS spokesperson confirmed that Mullin rescinded the rule Wednesday, telling The Associated Press the secretary “re-evaluated the contract processes to make sure DHS is serving the American taxpayer efficiently.” CBS News first reported Mullin’s decision. The spokesperson said Mullin’s action will streamline the contracting process and allocate aid more efficiently. The International Association of Emergency Managers praised Mullin’s decision. “We appreciate Secretary Mullin’s common-sense approach to this matter, and we look forward to working with him,” said Josh Morton, president of IAEM-USA.Noem issued a directive last June requiring that she personally approve any Department of Homeland Security expenditure over $100,000. Critics said the rule undermined FEMA in particular, an agency that routinely issues contracts and reimbursements well over that amount in its work preparing for and responding to natural and manmade disasters across the U.S. The policy created “an untenable situation for emergency managers,” Morton said, and a bottleneck that also hindered mitigation and preparedness programs, “putting Americans at increased risk from disasters.” A recently released report by Democratic members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee found the approval rule had delayed at least 1,000 FEMA contracts, grants or disaster reimbursements by September. The policy came under scrutiny after news reports linked it to unstaffed call centers and delays deploying FEMA Urban Search and Rescue teams to Texas during deadly floods last July, and brought sharp rebuke from some state officials and lawmakers, especially Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, whose state is still recovering from devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene in 2024. “You’ve failed at FEMA,” Tillis told Noem at a Senate hearing the day before she was fired. About $2.2 billion in recovery and mitigation dollars were in the DHS approval queue Wednesday, according to FEMA data seen by the AP. “It’s got a great mission, and I think people at FEMA want to do their job,” Mullin told lawmakers at his March confirmation hearing, sparking cautious hope that he would ease the tumult experienced at the agency under Noem. Mullin said he would keep the agency ”adequately staffed” after it lost over 2,400 employees last year, and said he was already considering nominees for a permanent FEMA administrator, which the agency still lacks. Trump has repeatedly floated the idea of eliminating FEMA, saying as recently as Tuesday that the agency is “very expensive and it really doesn’t get the job done.” Michael Coen, FEMA chief of staff during the Obama and Biden administrations, said, “Hopefully this a step toward transparency and stability between FEMA and states.”DHS is reviewing other policies across the agency, pausing the purchase of new warehouses for immigration detention this week as it reviews contracts signed under Noem.Lifting the spending approval rule will not necessarily mean a rapid flow of FEMA reimbursements to states, tribes and territories, as the agency is still impacted by the DHS fund impasse, now the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. While FEMA disaster response and recovery activities are paid out of a non-lapsing Disaster Relief Fund, that money is running low, a FEMA official warned lawmakers in a House hearing last week, with about $3.6 billion remaining. The DHS appropriations bill would add just over $26 billion to the fund. Republican lawmakers on Wednesday signaled an agreement to end the shutdown could be reached in the coming days. Gabriela covers philanthropy’s role in disaster resilience and recovery. She is based in San Diego, California.