WASHINGTON – As President Donald Trump looks for ways to move the federal role to the state, the governor and state legislature may have to step up natural disaster response and recovery efforts over the coming years.
Trump, who fully proposed the Federal Emergency Management Agency during a tour of disaster scenes in North Carolina and California, has since formed a committee of 20 people through an executive order, reviewing the agency and suggesting ways to overhaul the work. I’m doing it.
The fate of the national flood insurance program, managed by FEMA and relies on over 4.7 million homeowners, will also appear while the process is underway.
“Frankly, I don’t think FEMA is good,” Trump said. North Carolina His visit on January 24th. “When you have problems like this, you want to go. Whether it’s a Democrat or a Republican governor, you’ll fix it and call FEMA time. Don’t waste it.”
Trump said he plans to encourage him to “before FEMA is leaving and we will pay directly — we will pay a percentage to the state.”
“But the state should fix this,” Trump said. “If the state did this from the start, it would have been a much better situation.”
FEMA’s “Full-Scale Review”
Trump’s Presidential Order “Americans deserve an immediate, effective and fair response to disasters.”
“Therefore, FEMA requires a full-scale review by highly experienced individuals in effective disaster response and recovery. They are the president’s president to promote national interests and enable national resilience. We recommend improvements or structural changes,” the executive order states.
Homeland Security Secretary Christie Noem and Defense Secretary Pete Hegses will co-chair a group of 20 people. The White House did not answer questions about when Trump would name the other members.
The Council should release a report later this year comparing FEMA’s response to various natural disasters with the responses of states affected by the emergency. The report is also expected to include how the state responded to natural disasters before establishing FEMA in 1979 and signing it with an executive order.
US House Speaker Mike Johnson Press conference On Monday he stopped eliminating agents because he supports reviews of how FEMA operates.
“In my experience, it’s very common for local workers, people working through FEMA to do pretty good jobs,” Johnson said. “However, it is the leadership of the top that can often affect the outcome of how a disaster is handled.”
Johnson said that departments and agencies should not be seen as out of scope for evaluation as Trump sees “to make government more efficient and effective,” and Republican lawmakers say They are looking for ways to “limit the size and scope of government.”
“FEMA was a partner, but they could probably be a better partner,” Johnson said.
Let the state perform the response
Senator Lindsey Graham said Monday that Trump’s preferred approach is for the state to implement its own emergency response and be refunded in federal dollars.
“FEMA is sometimes frustrating,” Graham told reporters in Columbia, South Carolina.
Graham hopes anything that comes out of the research will land somewhere in the middle – rather than completely eliminate the federal agency, he hopes to get through some red tapes .
“FEMA, if you want to rebuild FEMA to make it more effective, count me,” Graham said.
Congress has allocated $25.3 billion to FEMA in government spending bills over the past year. That was $72.9 million less than previous funding levels and $267.7 million less than then President Joe Biden’s budget request. House GOP Summary.
Lawmakers provided an additional $29 billion to FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund Emergency Expenses Legislation The assembly was approved in late December.
Devon Cruz, National Press Director of the Democratic Governors Association, wrote that the GOP “has a dangerous idea in his mind.”
“When a natural disaster occurred, the Democratic governor was a major example of putting politics aside and helping families rebuild and recover,” Cruz wrote. “Now, Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans are shamelessly politicizing disaster aid, with dangerous ideas that make it difficult for families to help rebuild their homes, schools and communities. , just the latest example of Republican-led dysfunction in DC and the growth of contrasts between Democratic governors getting real results in the state every day.”
The National Association of Governors declined to comment on how potential changes will affect the state and its budget. The national meeting of the state legislature and the Republican Governors Association did not respond to requests for comment.
Billions of federal dollars sent to the state
FEMA has interactiveness State-by-state breakdown As for how much the federal government has spent on natural disaster response and recovery since 2017, it does not include Covid-19 emergency funds.
This web page shows how much FEMA spent to help states or territories recover from emergencies, and how many departments are the Agriculture, Defense, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Internal and Transportation sectors. It shows you spent.
According to the web page, the department and institutions have allocated about $250 billion to natural disasters covered in data, and are in the red states that support Trump in the presidential election and are primarily represented by Congressional GOP lawmakers. It contains a significant amount.
For example, Johnson’s hometown of Louisiana is allocated to $19.3 billion in funding, of which $11.5 billion is $11.5 billion from FEMA.
South Dakota, home to Senate majority leader John Tune, has been allocated nearly $400 million by the federal government, with FEMA totaling $275.6 million.
Florida has been bruntled by several hurricanes and tropical storms over the years, but has been allocated $29.5 billion in federal disaster assistance, of which $1.9 billion has been allocated $19 billion from FEMA. I did.
Senior reporter Jessica Holden for the South Carolina Daily Gazette contributed to this report.
Last updated at 11:21am, January 31, 2025
