Fairfax County’s chairman has called for a Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesman to be “disciplined or removed from his position” after he was quoted as saying the county’s wealth was a factor in the decision to deny storm aid to individual Virginians.

FEMA has since denied that the decision to withhold federal grants and loans to homeowners in storm-ravaged areas of the state hinged on Fairfax County’s affluence. The agency’s statements come shortly after spokesman Dan Martinez was quoted in the Washington Post as calling Fairfax “an affluent community that’s able to address the specific needs of its residents.”