President Donald Trump said he plans on “phasing out” the Federal Emergency Management Agency after the current hurricane season. Moving forward, Trump explained, states would be responsible for their own disaster relief, adding that federal aid would decrease and that what's left would be distributed by the White House.
"We're going to give it out directly. It'll be from the president's office. We'll have somebody here, could be Homeland Security," Trump said, per Reuters.
Trump’s announcement comes after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasted above-normal hurricane activity in the Atlantic Ocean this season. NOAA expects a potential 10 hurricanes this season. Hurricane season officially started on June 1 and will last until November 30; Trump’s FEMA head appeared unaware of hurricane season until recently.
On Tuesday, Trump said he plans to “wean” states off of FEMA. “A governor should be able to handle it, and frankly, if they can’t handle it, the aftermath, then maybe they shouldn’t be governor,” Trump said.
FEMA is part of the Department of Homeland Security, with a budget of around $30 billion, and employed more than 20,000 people prior to layoffs earlier this year. CNN reported that FEMA is already understaffed, having lost 10% of its staff since January. And a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that FEMA had a 35% gap between actual and needed staff in 2022.
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DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, who co-chairs Trump’s FEMA Review Council along with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, said that FEMA “fundamentally needs to go away as it exists.” In its place, Noem said, the administration is encouraging states to work together: “We're building communication and mutual aid agreements among states.”
Trump argued that it’s the governors’ responsibility to take care of disaster relief: “It’s extremely expensive, and again, when you have a tornado or a hurricane or you have a problem of any kind in a state, that’s what you have governors for. They’re supposed to fix those problems.”
Under Trump, FEMA has denied federal assistance for tornadoes in Arkansas and rejected North Carolina’s request for extended relief funding in the wake of Hurricane Helene.
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