Trump, Noem detail changes to federal disaster agency
President Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem detailed changes they hope to make to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), indicating they intend to eliminate the agency “as it exists today” and dole out less money to states that are hit by disasters.
“We want to wean off of FEMA and we want to bring it down to the state level…we’re moving it back to the state so the governors can handle it,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday.
“We’re going to give out less money…It’s going to be from the president’s office,” Trump said. “As an example, I just gave out $71 million to a certain state. They were looking to do about 120 [million], they were very happy with the $71 million.”
Trump also indicated that changes could come after the current hurricane season, which lasts from June through November. Both Trump and Noem have called for axing the disaster agency, which helps coordinate responses to hurricanes, wildfires and more.
Noem reiterated those calls on Tuesday, telling Trump “You’ve been very clear that you want to see FEMA eliminated as it exists today, so I’m preparing all of these governors that they will have more control over the decisions on how they respond to their communities so that it can happen faster.”
She added that the administration was “building communication and mutual aid agreements among states to respond to each other so that they can stand on their own two feet with the federal government coming in in catastrophic circumstances with funding.”
Welcome to The Hill’s Energy & Environment newsletter, I’m Rachel Frazin — keeping you up to speed on the policies impacting everything from oil and gas to new supply chains.
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On Tap
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Vote of Note
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Correction: A previous version of this article gave incorrect names of the fired CPB board members. They are Laura Ross, Diane Kaplan and Thomas Rothman. Read more
