Noem's $100,000 Approval Rule Reportedly Delayed FEMA Rescue Teams After the Texas Floods

CNN reported in the week of July 7, 2025, citing multiple sources inside the agency, that FEMA's response to the July 4 flash floods in the Texas Hill Country was slowed by a policy Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had imposed requiring her personal sign-off on any DHS contract or grant above $100,000. FEMA reportedly did not activate Urban Search and Rescue teams until the Monday after the flood; Noem's authorization came more than 72 hours in, and sources said such assets would normally have been pre-staged. The floods along the Guadalupe River killed at least 120 people, including 27 campers and counselors at Camp Mystic.

A cost-control rule applied without a disaster carve-out places a cabinet secretary's signature in the path of time-critical search-and-rescue deployment, the failure mode emergency-management statutes exist to prevent.

DHS disputed the account, pointing to Coast Guard and Border Patrol teams it said were on scene immediately. Federal records later showed DHS took five days to fund a disaster call center for survivors.