The scrutiny on the agency comes as President Donald Trump has repeatedly questioned the necessity of FEMA and called for states to take a greater role in disaster response.

Urban Search and Rescue Chief Ken Pagurek quit over a new policy that led to delays in FEMA's response to the flooding in Texas on July 4, sources said.

The acting administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency is pushing back on criticisms of the federal response to the central Texas floods that killed at least 136 people earlier this month.

The decision was likely in part due to the agency's delayed response to the flooding disaster in Central Texas. Senior FEMA leader Ken Pagurek told colleagues this was the last straw after months of frustration over President Donald Trump's repeated efforts to eliminate the agency, CNN reported.

Ken Pagurek had become increasingly frustrated with the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the agency, CNN reported.

The head of FEMA’s Urban Search and Rescue branch, which runs a network of teams stationed across the country that can swiftly respond to natural disasters, resigned on Monday.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s acting leader has adamantly defended the federal government’s response to historic flooding in Texas earlier this month, saying lawmakers’ attacks on the agency’s actions were unwarranted.