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Discussion on city's response to FEMA funding clawback
0:59:34
ยท
143 sec
Council Member Brannan questions OMB Director Jiha about the city's response to the $80 million FEMA funding clawback. Jiha defends the administration's actions, explaining the process of filing a lawsuit.
- Jiha asserts there was no hesitation in responding to the clawback
- The law department filed a lawsuit within about two weeks
- Jiha emphasizes the need to evaluate each situation individually for future cuts
Justin Brannan
0:59:34
Okay.
0:59:35
Because, you know, under the cloak of darkness when the federal government clawed back the $80,000,000 in FEMA funds, the administration frankly seemed paralyzed on their response.
0:59:45
It was several days before we heard of any, you know, anything being done from OMB.
0:59:53
Could you tell us or walk us through why the administration failed to immediately challenge the FEMA claw back in court?
1:00:01
Why was there so much hesitation?
Jacques Jiha
1:00:02
There was no hesitation.
1:00:03
We did it right away.
1:00:04
It takes time for the lawyers to prepare the the briefing the brief, and it takes time.
1:00:09
It takes about, like, two weeks, I believe, from that date.
1:00:13
You know, action was taken right away.
1:00:15
It's it's OMB didn't drag its feet, and the law department basically in charge of the lawsuit.
1:00:23
They filed it right away.
1:00:24
It's just a question.
1:00:25
It takes it takes a little time to file a lawsuit.
Justin Brannan
1:00:28
So now that we've filed that one lawsuit, do we have the blueprint for when the future cuts come?
Jacques Jiha
1:00:35
Again, as I said, we're gonna have to take a evaluate every situation to see exactly what's gonna be the the action we're gonna take.
1:00:42
At this moment in time, I cannot tell you, make a blanket statement about, you know, if for every cut, we're gonna do x, y, and z.
1:00:48
I I can't.
Justin Brannan
1:00:50
So what steps is OMB taking to ensure that agencies right now are claiming every available federal or state dollar and aren't leaving money on the table?
Jacques Jiha
1:00:59
We we told every agency to draw down, okay, every single every single dollar that that they can as long as they have the expense, they have the invoice, you know, so to make sure they draw down every single one of the dollars that they have.
1:01:14
That is the direction that we gave them.
1:01:18
And many of them have
Justin Brannan
1:01:19
done have done so.
1:01:21
Okay.
1:01:22
I I wanna acknowledge the folks who do a lot of hard work at OMB.
1:01:28
I can imagine that this is very hard for folks during an uncertain time.
1:01:33
What's morale like at OMB right now?
Jacques Jiha
1:01:36
As far as I know, very high.
1:01:38
We we're very busy.
1:01:40
Our heads we keep our heads down.
1:01:42
You know, we have a job to do, and we drive we try to do a best that we can to do our job.
1:01:48
It is it's it's very trying time, but we we we don't have a choice.
1:01:54
It's every quarter we have to come up with a balanced plan, and that's what that's what we do.