A federal judge ruled that the Department of Homeland Security broke the law when it tried to fire half of FEMA's workforce. Not because firing people is illegal. Because DHS forgot which department gets to decide who works at FEMA.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston wrote that DHS "acted unlawfully by usurping FEMA's authority over its own personnel." The Trump administration attempted to cut FEMA staff in half without asking FEMA if that was cool with them. Like breaking into your neighbor's house to rearrange their furniture because you think they have too many chairs.
DHS is the parent agency. FEMA reports to DHS. But apparently someone at DHS skipped the part of the organizational chart that explains FEMA still controls its own hiring and firing. This is the equivalent of your boss's boss firing you without telling your boss, except your boss is responsible for disaster relief and your boss's boss just created a staffing disaster.
The plan would have slashed FEMA's workforce by 50%. No word on which disasters would have been covered by the remaining half. Hurricanes yes, floods maybe, wildfires only if they're trending on social media.
Judge Illston did not rule on whether cutting FEMA in half was a good idea. She ruled that if you want to gut an agency, you have to let that agency gut itself. Proper channels matter, even when the channel leads to a wood chipper.
The case proves that even when the government wants to shrink the government, the government doesn't know how government works. Which would be funnier if FEMA wasn't the agency that shows up after your house becomes a swimming pool.
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
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