Romney Denies He Would Eliminate FEMA

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney denied Monday that he would shut down the Federal Emergency Management Agency, despite reports to the contrary Monday morning.

Video from a 2011 Republican presidential primary debate appears to feature Romney saying he would eliminate the agency and return FEMA’s responsibilities to the states or to private companies, reported The Huffington Post.

Campaign officials told Politico that Romney would not shut down FEMA, but leave the responsibility of handling emergency response to the states.

“Gov. Romney believes that states should be in charge of emergency management in responding to storms and other natural disasters in their jurisdictions,” Romney spokesman Ryan Williams said in a statement. “As the first responders, states are in the best position to aid affected individuals and communities, and to direct resources and assistance to where they are needed most. This includes help from the federal government and FEMA.”

In the 2011 debate clip from CNN that Huffington Post included with its story, Romney responds to moderator John King’s question about how to handle FEMA which, at the time was thought to be running out of money while dealing with several national emergencies.

“Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that’s the right direction,” Romney said in the debate. “And if you can go even further and send it back to the private sector, that’s even better.”