Trump wants states to handle disasters without Fema. You say you can’t.

State and local emergency managers are facing a grave question in the course of President Donald Trump’s week: If disaster strokes, can you rely on the federal government?

Trump described the Federal Emergency Management Agency as a “catastrophe” and suggested that she could “disappear”. He said the states would best take care of hurricanes, tornados and forest fires, with the federal government reimbursing some of the costs. He appointed advice to check the Fema and recommend “improvements or structural changes”.

Guide in states made by disasters say that they need more than the promise of a later federal checks to manage catastrophic events. They say that they are not equipped for the Rollen -Fema games, e.g. B. Emergency resources of several federal authorities, flood insurance, the implementation of damage ratings and the distribution of billions of dollars of restoration funds.

“Fema was an absolute lifesaver for people,” said Senator of Vermont, Anne Watson, a democrat who was involved in the recovery of the state of devastating floods. “I don’t see [states and municipalities] As able to replicate what Fema does. The possibility that it goes away leaves millions and millions of Americans in a very vulnerable position. “

In the meantime, Trump said last month that he wanted to make the state forest fire aid for Los Angeles dependent in California, enacting modern laws that require the identification of voters, and added further uncertainties as to whether states can expect facilitate from the government can.

Trump and his allies too aimed at the agency After the hurricane Helene, lies spread that Fema, under President Joe Biden, led disaster money for immigrants without legal status. Default to deliver helicopters; Restriction of facilitate to $ 750 per person; and support the support for republican areas.

State officials say that there is space for a conversation about state and federal roles in the disaster reaction, it would be low -sighted to eliminate the Fema.

“I don’t think it makes sense to get rid of the Fema,” said Lynn Budd, director of the Wyoming Office of Homeland Security, in an interview with Stateline. “There are scale effects [that a nationwide agency provides]. States do not have this ability to cope with a disaster every year. “

Budd said she didn’t think Trump intends to terminate the Fema and “does not realistically” call such a step. She is also President of the National Emergency Management Association, a non -profit organization that includes state and territorial emergency officials. Budd asked Trump to include state emergency managers to the council that will take into account the future of Fema.

Experts in emergency management say that Trump cannot unilaterally dissolve the Fema, which would require measures in the congress measures. However, Trump has already taken measures that exceed his executive authority, including an attempt to freeze trillion dollars of federal financing that had already been approved by the Congress.

The Fema has a certain support for Trump’s Republican allies, especially in view of the fact that red states are needed more facilitate In recent years. Since 2015, the inhabitants of Florida, Louisiana and Texas have received the highest amounts of individual aid payments from FEMA, which exceeds over 2 billion US dollars in each state.

However, experts see a lot to fear in the cost reduction efforts by Trump and his billionaire Ally Elon Musk, who have so far focused on lowering the federal employees and forcing civil servants with decades of experience. Such actions could be paralyzed, even if it is not officially “abolished”.

“Senior people who do not want to put up with this nonsense will go away,” said Craig Fugate, who acted under President Barack Obama as the Fema administrator. “It is one thing to speak hard, it is different to govern and provide services.”

Role of the Fema

In the past ten years, the FEMA has reacted to almost 1,400 disasters, including forest fires, bulky storms, hurricanes, floods and tornados. The agency coordinates the federal reaction in emergency situations, e.g. B. the Pentagon to bring rescue helicopters in the air or after a storm in the generators.

However, the greater purpose of the agency focuses on recovery, the assessment of the damage to communities and the distribution of financial resources in order to rebuild them. In the past four years, FEMA has made more than $ 12 billion dollars available to individuals and 133 billion US dollars for state and local governments, tribal nations, territories and some non -profit organizations.

The Fema also offers a huge part of the country’s flood insurance protection because the private market has largely withdrawn from flood policy.

Some governors, including the Democrat Andy Beshear of Kentucky, said that Trump’s threats to reduce the Fema are perilous.

“[I]T would be catastrophic in and of itself so that the Fema organization is dissolved, ”he said according to the Kentucky Lantern.

Beshear noted that the replication of the Fema administrative functions in every state would be far more high-priced than a single national agency.

Fema, founded in the 1950s, has played a larger role, since the congress has expanded its restoration mission, which has increased population groups in areas at risk of disaster and climate change has increased the frequency and severity of the disasters.

The agency was temporarily criticized – most famed after the hurricane Katrina in 2005 – for an excessive bureaucratic system that has been stuck in bureaucracy. Some conservative groups have long argued that states should do more about the burden on the reaction to disasters.

Project 2025A right-wing blueprint, from which Trump distanced himself during the campaign, which has led many of his actions since taking office, aims to limit the authorization of the states for disaster relief or to determine a deductible that the states hit before the Feds must in. Such cuts would stimulate states to “play a more proactive role in their own standby and reaction skills,” it said. The document also calls on the states to assume much more financial responsibility for the restoration efforts.

Emergency managers say that there are opportunities to make Fema more productive.

Fugate, the former FEMA boss, said the underlying problem was that the agency is not designed in such a way that insurance protection insurance is replacing, but increasingly takes on this role, since private insurers give up disaster-hazardous areas. And increasing the payment of the payment also increases the risk of spelling funds, he said.

“Nobody says we shouldn’t look at these programs and find out how we do this money faster,” he said. “But you have this double tension from ‘I want to be fast, but I am an administrator of the taxpayer’s dollars.”

In the middle of this discussion, experts say that the lawn to dismantle the federal authority would be catastrophic.

“The consequences [of dissolving FEMA] Would be life-threatening, ”said Juliette Kayyem, chairman of the faculty chairman of the home protection project at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and former Obama administration. “The states are currently not built for it.”

Local experience

Local leaders who have experienced disasters say that the Fema is of vital importance.

After an EF5 tornado saw through Moore, Oklahoma in May 2013 in May 2013, the Federal Authority provided a recovery support.

“Sometimes I think people have a misunderstanding of the purpose of the Fema. And it is not much to provide equipment or workers – you can do a little of it, but that’s not your main function, ”said Moore Mayor Mark Hamm, whose office is impartial.

Hamm was in the city council when the mileage of Tornado killed 24 people, including seven students at a primary school. Moore said Fema provided crucial financial resources and reimbursed the city’s exorbitant overtime costs for police and firefighters.

Moore is a bedroom community with around 63,000 people between Oklahoma City and Norman. The city’s annual budget is approximately $ 133 million. The national weather service calculated the damage of the storm in 2013 in the entire region in the region $ 2 billion. The city was hit by Two F5 tornados Since 1999.

“If you have a natural disaster like the tornados of the F5 tornados to our city – our city would do that bankrupt, our budget,” he said. “This is a great burden that this city simply couldn’t afford.”

Hamm said that he was open to Trump’s speech to realign the realignment of the Fema, especially if more funds were stayed directly with states such as his. But he said that the disaster financing must remain intact in any way.

“If you need a lifeline, it is reassuring to know that one is there and that you can grab this rope, and at the other end is someone who brings you to safety,” he said. “And the federal government was a lifeline, not so much in recovery, but the finances. I can’t emphasize that enough. “

Eaton County, Michigan, was hit demanding in August 2023 when Tornados, bulky storms and floods met the Mid-Michigan region. The FEMA’s reaction helped the community to control facilitate and recovery programs and apply for the support of the federal government.

“This state support piece is of crucial importance for us to recover from disasters,” said Ryan Wilkinson, the district’s emergency manager. “Yes, we need a reform for emergency management nationwide – at all levels – but the shift in full responsibility towards the states would harm more in the long term.”