As Hurricane Milton barrels toward the Florida west coast, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said on Monday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has the resources needed to respond once the monster storm makes landfall Wednesday night.
"Yes, it does, quite clearly," Mayorkas said during an interview on MSNBC's "Inside with Jen Psaki" when asked if FEMA has what it needs to respond effectively to Milton.
"And everybody should rest confident that FEMA has the resources," he said.
Psaki, former Biden White House press secretary, asked Mayorkas to respond to a report by The New York Times that just 9% of FEMA's workforce is available to respond to the hurricane and other natural disasters amid a "severe staffing shortage."
The Times' report compared current FEMA staffing levels to the past five years, when 25% of the federal agency's staff was available to respond during hurricane season.
Mayorkas seemingly dismissed the disparity, telling Psaki, "We have the personnel" to respond to multiple disasters simultaneously.
"We already have 900 personnel deployed, prepositioned in Florida, who were responding to Hurricane Helene, people who were responding previously to Hurricanes Idalia and Debby," he said. "We are there. We have search and rescue teams; the Army Corps of Engineers are there. We are ready."
"FEMA likes to say it is FEMA flexible," Mayorkas added. "We can respond to multiple events at a single time."
Just last week, the Trump campaign blasted Vice President Kamala Harris over reports that FEMA does not have enough money in its coffers to make it through hurricane season, saying the Democrat presidential nominee prioritized spending on migrants over American citizens.
"FEMA has run out of money for the rest of hurricane season because Kamala Harris used the funds for free giveaways to illegal immigrants," Karoline Leavitt, national press secretary for the Trump campaign said in a statement. "This is inexcusable and yet another example of Kamala Harris putting Americans LAST!"
Mayorkas told reporters that FEMA can meet immediate needs in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, but the agency does not have the funds to finish out the storm season.
Hurricane Milton is expected to hit Tampa, Florida, Wednesday night, marking the first time in more than 100 years that the city has been struck by a major hurricane.
The powerful Category 4 storm looks to make landfall as the state is still in the midst of recovering from Hurricane Helene, which caused catastrophic flooding and damage and killed more than 200 people nearly two weeks ago.
Newsmax has reached out to FEMA for comment.