Exclusive: FEMA Didn’t Sufficiently Staff Disaster Hotline After Texas Floods

In the days after disastrous floods tore through Texas Hill Country last month, tens of thousands of calls to a federal aid hotline went unanswered, after FEMA failed to fund the call center. We discuss how the Trump administration’s government restructuring plans led to this problem and what it could mean for future disasters. This episode: political correspondent Sarah McCammon, politics correspondent Stephen Fowler, and climate correspondent Rebecca Hersher. This podcast was produced by Casey Morell & Bria Suggs, and edited by Rachel Baye. Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi. Listen to every episode of the NPR Politics Podcast sponsor-free, unlock access to bonus episodes with more from the NPR Politics team, and support public media when you sign up for The NPR Politics Podcast+ at plus.npr.org/politics . For handpicked podcast recommendations every week, subscribe to NPR's Pod Club newsletter at npr.org/podclub . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy