The federal government response to the Maui wildfires has been abhorrent. DHS/FEMA personnel are being housed in 5-star luxury resorts, where the lowest cost for a room at one of them is $1,300 per night. They are spending at least $200,000 per night for Washington bureaucrats to be housed. Why aren’t those who lost their homes being sheltered in hotels? After several hurricanes, temporary trailers have been brought in for victims. Why not bring those in and house both victims and the response people?

This comes as the DHS secretary reported to Congress that their response and recovery budget for the year is about $25 billion short. If you put your employees up in 5-star resorts, it’s not hard to figure out why. The Days Inn in Maui had hundreds of rooms available for only $250 per night.

If Sens. Bob Casey and John Fetterman and Rep. Chris DeLuzio truly care about financial accountability, they need to demand DHS/FEMA justify these costs and explain that if their budget is short because of these absurd charges, then they need to cut other places to meet their needs and never engage in this wasteful use of taxpayer money or they will need to find other employment.

Rob Gresser

North Fayette

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