Democrats Create a Sewage Crisis — Then Defund FEMA’s Cleanup

https://pjmedia.com/catherinesalgado/2026/02/17/democrats-create-a-sewage-crisis-then-defund-femas-cleanup-n4949595#google_vignette

CATHERINE SALGADO  | 9:07 AM ON FEBRUARY 17, 2026

A Trump administration official is accusing Democrat mismanagement of causing the massive sewage pipe break and spill in the Potomac River, and the government workers who have to deal with the spill just got defunded, discourtesy of toilet-brained Democrats.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is a subsidiary agency of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which Democrats just defunded. Leftists’ anti-ICE obsession consumes every other consideration. But FEMA has to deal with a massive sewage spill poisoning the waters of the river that runs through Maryland, Virginia, and D.C., because if there is one thing that is always true of Democrats, it is that they insist on creating catastrophes with their policies straight from the sewer and then making someone else clean up after them.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is thoroughly disgusted and furious that her agency has to address the crisis without paychecks. “Democrats in Congress have shut down @FEMA funding—leaving our hard working employees to work without pay—yet FEMA is now stepping in to coordinate cleanup of one of the largest raw sewage spills in U.S. history,” she posted on X Feb. 16.

WTOP reported that millions of gallons of raw sewage are now in the river and that the ongoing health risks and the temporary or long-term environmental impacts are not perfectly clear. 

Noem certainly believes that Democrat incompetence is to blame for the sewage spill. “Thanks to gross mismanagement by Maryland's Democrat leaders, hundreds of millions of gallons of raw sewage has reportedly been dumped into the Potomac River—flowing straight through our nation's capital and endangering millions of people, wildlife, and the entire DC region's water supply,” she declared. 

In conclusion, she noted how Democrats first caused the crisis, and then snatched funding away from those who are solving it. “Democrats are withholding paychecks from the men and women of @dhsgov while they clean up this Democrat-created disaster. Unbelievable hypocrisy,” she declared.

High-capacity bypass pumps are expected to help address the sewage pipe break and leak, according to WTOP. University of Maryland Professor Rachel Rosenberg worried, “Even last week we’re still measuring E.coli 4,000 times above recreational water quality standards.” 

She said that humans are in danger from the spill, not just animals. Ice is currently affecting the river and the movement of the sewage. “It’s really important for public health, because people who interact with the water, and potentially with the lands that was [sic] impacted by the water, could become infected with those bacteria,” Rosenberg explained.

That is why, of course, it is so urgent that FEMA be on the job despite not having pay. Who knows how much environmental damage has already occurred?

Expect that Democrats will somehow end up blaming the sewage spill on the Trump administration, even though it is the Trump administration that has to clean it up.