Get Rid of FEMA? Trump-appointed Group to Look at Shifting Disaster Response to States.
how a disaster is handled.”
Johnson said no department or agency should be considered out of bounds for evaluation as Trump looks to “make the government more efficient and effective” and Republican lawmakers look for ways “to limit the size and scope of government.”
“FEMA has been a partner, but they probably could be a better partner,” Johnson said.
Let States Run Response
Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham said Monday that Trump’s preferred approach would be to let states run their own emergency response and be reimbursed with federal dollars.
“FEMA is frustrating at times,” Graham told reporters in Columbia, South Carolina. “I’d like to make it easier to help people with disaster relief.”
Graham expects anything that comes out of the study to land somewhere in the middle — not completely eliminating the federal agency but cutting through some of the red tape.
“If you want to look at FEMA, reshape FEMA, to make it more effective, count me in,” Graham said.
Congress appropriated $25.3 billion for FEMA in the last full-year spending bill for the agency, which was $72.9 million less than its previous funding level and $267.7 million less than then-President Joe Biden’s budget request, according to a House GOP summary.
Lawmakers provided an additional $29 billion for FEMA’s disaster relief fund in an emergency spending bill that Congress approved in late December.
Democratic Governors Association national press secretary Devon Cruz wrote in a statement that the GOP was “floating dangerous ideas.”
“When natural disasters hit, Democratic governors have been a leading example of putting politics aside, and helping families rebuild and recover,” Cruz wrote. “Now, Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans are shamelessly politicizing disaster aid, and floating dangerous ideas that would make it harder to help families rebuild their homes, schools, and communities. This is just the latest example of the growing contrast between Republican-led dysfunction in D.C. and Democratic governors getting real results in their states every day.”
The National Governors Association declined to comment on how the potential changes would affect states and their budgets. The National Conference of State Legislatures and the Republican Governors Association did not respond to requests for comment.
Billions in Federal Dollars Sent to States
FEMA has an interactive state-by-state breakdown of how much the federal government has spent on natural disaster response and recovery since 2017, though it doesn’t include the emergency funding for COVID-19.
The webpage shows how much FEMA has spent to help each state or territory recover from emergencies, as well as how much the departments of Agriculture, Defense, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Interior and Transportation have spent.
The webpage shows the departments and agencies have allocated about $250 billion on the natural disasters covered in the data, with significant amounts going to red states that backed Trump in the presidential election and are predominantly represented by GOP lawmakers in Congress.
Speaker Johnson’s home state of Louisiana, for example, has been allocated $19.3 billion in funding, with $11.5 billion of that from FEMA.
South Dakota, home to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, has been allocated nearly $400 million from the federal government, with FEMA accounting for $275.6 million of that total.
Florida, which has borne the brunt of several hurricanes and tropical storms during the years covered, was allocated $29.5 billion in federal disaster assistance, with $19 billion of that from FEMA.
Jennifer Shutt covers the nation’s capital as a senior reporter for States Newsroom.South Carolina Daily Gazette senior reporter Jessica Holdman contributed to this report. The article originally appeared in Stateline.
