WASHINGTON — The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency told lawmakers Tuesday that he encouraged the agency’s inspector general to look into whether an employee was acting alone when he ordered workers helping hurricane victims not to go to homes with yard signs that I support President-elect Donald Trump.

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said a critical function of the agency is to go from door to door and meet the survivors to make them aware of available federal resources. The employee, she said, wrote to about 11 employees under her supervision that they should “avoid houses that advertise Trump.”

Criswell said her management team provided her with evidence and recommended that the employee be fired. It he agreed.

“I do not believe that this employee’s actions are indicative of any widespread cultural problem at FEMA,” Criswell said. However, she said she would support an independent inquiry into the matter.

“The IG has not yet stated that they want to investigate this, but I encourage them to look into this case and see if this was a widespread problem or if this was just a one-off incident,” Criswell said.

Criswell appeared before a House subcommittee investigating the federal government’s response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton. She did it one day at the request of President Joe Biden almost 100 billion dollars in emergency disaster relief, with about $40 billion of that money earmarked for FEMA programs.

It was clear that as lawmakers held an oversight hearing on FEMA’s overall response to the devastating storms, they were particularly focused on reports of the agency avoiding helping some Americans based on their political beliefs.

Rep. Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., acknowledged that while the employee was quickly fired, it was clear from an interview with the worker that she believed she was complying with the agency’s instructions.

“It appears this worker in particular believes she is being scapegoated, and if that is the case, more people at FEMA need to be held accountable,” said Perry, who chairs the panel that held Tuesday’s hearing. .

Criswell said he is committed to making sure “nothing like this happens again.” Meanwhile, another team was dispatched to the field to contact all homes that had been jumped from the employee’s direction.

Rep. Chuck Edwards, RN.C., whose district was ravaged by Helene, said the agency’s response was bound to be a bit choppy because the mountains are not a traditional location for such flooding. However, he cited numerous faults. He said the storm essentially ended on Sept. 27 and that after that, about 1 million people were without power and 25 water systems were destroyed. But he said it took three days before there was any real visibility from FEMA.

“For it to take three days to get visibility from FEMA is just unacceptable,” Edwards said. “There were people in their houses not only without electricity, they couldn’t flush the toilet, they didn’t have drinking water. We were stopped. from the rest of the world.”

Criswell said FEMA was on the ground before the hurricanes hit and was proud of the work its roughly 22,000 workers provided in six states. She said workers persevered through the challenges presented by the storms and also misinformation on social media.

“We help all survivors, all people, get all the assistance they are legally qualified for and misinformation it makes work that much more difficult,” she said.