WATCH: FEMA, TSA nominees testify in confirmation hearing before Senate Homeland Security panel

By — Associated Press Associated Press Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-fema-tsa-nominees-testify-in-confirmation-hearing-before-senate-homeland-security-panel Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter WATCH: FEMA, TSA nominees testify in confirmation hearing before Senate Homeland Security panel Politics Updated on Jun 17, 2026 11:22 AM EDT — Published on Jun 17, 2026 8:59 AM EDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Cameron Hamilton, President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency, pledged to senators Wednesday to be "fair and reasonable" in assessing requests for disaster aid as he seeks to run an agency roiled by the administration's threats to dismantle it. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee meets at 9 a.m. EDT. Watch live in our video player above. Hamilton led FEMA briefly last year until he was fired after defending its existence. His nomination comes as the Republican administration has increasingly signaled it is backing away from promises to dismantle an agency that has been heavily criticized by the president. READ MORE: Trump nominates Cameron Hamilton to lead FEMA, a year after he was fired from the role Hamilton was named temporary head in January 2025, just days before the president floated the idea of "getting rid" of FEMA. Hamilton had never been a state or local emergency management director and had himself publicly criticized FEMA in the past. Educate your inbox Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else. Once on the job, he said he was concerned about threats to abolish the agency. At a House hearing last year, he said he did not "believe it is in the best interest of the American people to eliminate" FEMA. He was fired the next day. "My focus will be to ensure that FEMA is objective, is fair and reasonable, follows the law, and is consistent" in how it reviews disaster declaration requests, Hamilton told Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Peters had asked about partisanship in granting major disaster declarations. Hamilton, who did not give an opening statement, was one of 10 nominees being considering by the committee. Among the others were Trump's pick for deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, Hal Duncan, and administrator of the Transportation Security Administration, David Cummins . Peters criticized the committee chairman, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., for scheduling so many nominees at once, saying that made it more difficult for senators to properly screen them. "The lineup today severely limits our ability to have transparency for the American public," Peters said. He noted that Hamilton was among two nominees whose FBI background investigations were not yet complete, and that two others had not submitted their financial disclosure reports. Paul