{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/news-releases/mccaskill-questions-fema-involvement-in-draft-whitefish-contract", "McCaskill Questions FEMA Involvement in Draft Whitefish Contract", "2017-11-27", "2017", "2017-11", "Democrat", "House", "MO", "Claire McCaskill", "M001170", "www.mccaskill.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "McCaskill Questions FEMA Involvement in Draft Whitefish Contract \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t Following new details on FEMA\u2019s role in the Whitefish contract, Senator seeks additional information \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tMonday, November 27, 2017\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, the top-ranking Democrat on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, is continuing to seek answers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) about Whitefish Energy Holdings\u2019 contract to repair Puerto Rico\u2019s electrical grid following conflicting information from FEMA about the agency\u2019s role in the Whitefish contract.\r\nOriginally, FEMA denied any involvement or funding of the Whitefish contract. However, after FEMA officials told Committee staff that \u201cit is possible that FEMA funds will be used by Whitefish,\u201d McCaskill wrote to FEMA for answers. Today McCaskill is expanding her request following discovery of a recent document indicating that FEMA reviewed a draft of the Whitefish contact.\r\n\u201cFEMA needs to provide a thorough, clear explanation of what role they played in the Whitefish contract,\u201d McCaskill said. \u201cIt\u2019s important that taxpayer dollars aren\u2019t wasted and are being effectively used for disaster recovery, but that\u2019s difficult to determine if we continue getting conflicting information about this contract.\u201d\r\nMcCaskill\u2019s latest request is for a briefing \u201cto clarify the involvement of FEMA in reviewing the Whitefish draft contract\u201d and answers to the questions she posed in an earlier request. McCaskill is seeking details on FEMA\u2019s review of the draft Whitefish contract, if FEMA funding has been used to pay the Whitefish contract, and information on other contracts FEMA is involved with as part of disaster recovery efforts.\r\nEarlier this year, McCaskill joined Committee Chairman Ron Johnson of Wisconsin to call for an investigation from the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General into the Whitefish contract. She also wrote to the Army Corps of Engineers earlier this month about nearly $1 billion it is awarding to contractors for repairing the electrical grid in Puerto Rico. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is responsible for oversight of disaster relief efforts.\r\nRead McCaskill\u2019s letter to FEMA HERE.\r\n###\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t  \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/news-releases/mccaskill-questions-fema-involvement-in-draft-whitefish-contract"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8151032961905003, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}