BATON ROUGE - Over $900 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency grants and loans allegedly await Homeland Security Kristi Noem's approval due to her policy of personally reviewing major spending, according to The Hill.

The policy of Noem personally approving expenditures that cost $100,000 or more has allegedly led to a backlog at the agency, which is responsible for providing funding to help communities prepare for disasters and assist with recovery.

The money awaiting approval affects not only recovery efforts but funding for things like repairs to schools, roads and bridges. 

According to The Hill, a spokesperson for FEMA said that Noem has reviewed more than 5,000 contracts and reviews all contracts within 24 hours. The spokesperson also stated that Noem's process has allegedly saved taxpayers $10.7 billion. 

The review policy was a major complaint for employees who signed the Katrina Declaration, a letter that claimed the Trump administration's FEMA policies were weakening disaster response. 

Employees wrote that the policy reduced FEMA's ability to quickly respond to disasters like the Texas floods, where mission assignments were allegedly delayed by up to 72 hours.