WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump on Sunday issued an executive order establishing a review council for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, just days after he floated shuttering the agency whose resources are strained following multiple weather-related disasters and which is burdened by past failures in handling massive storms.
Last Friday, the Republican president floated the idea of shuttering FEMA during a trip to disaster areas in North Carolina and California, hit by a hurricane and massive wildfires.
WHAT IS FEMA? The federal agency’s mission is to help people before, during and after disasters, including hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes and floods. FEMA brings in emergency personnel, supplies and equipment to stricken areas.
Its reputation was battered by its poor handling of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the agency has struggled to recover. Trump criticized FEMA on the campaign trail and since taking office on Monday. FEMA has a workforce of 20,000 people that can swell to more than 50,000 active members during major disasters, according to its website. It has 10 regional offices and the capacity to coordinate resources from across the federal government. Officially created in 1979, it became part of the Department of Homeland Security in 2004.
TRUMP CRITICISM
Trump has accused FEMA of bungling emergency relief efforts in North Carolina and said he preferred that states be given federal money to handle disasters themselves. During a visit Friday, he said the agency should be fundamentally reformed or even scrapped.
“FEMA has turned out to be a disaster,” he said during a tour of a North Carolina neighborhood destroyed by September’s Hurricane Helene. “I think we recommend that FEMA go away.”
Trump also criticized California’s response to recent wildfires that devastated Los Angeles, but he pledged during a visit to work with California Governor Gavin Newsom and offered help to L.A. Mayor Karen Bass.
FEMA STAFFING FEMA says it is currently supporting 108 major disasters and 10 emergency declarations. According to its daily operations briefing, 17% of its disaster-response workforce is available.
After Trump said he wanted to overhaul or scrap FEMA, the agency’s acting head Cam Hamilton wrote to staff and assured them that “FEMA is a critical agency which performs an essential mission in support of our national security.” Hamilton is a former Navy SEAL Trump appointed to temporarily lead the agency after the Republican president took office last week.
FEMA FUNDING
Funding for the agency has soared in recent years as extreme weather events boosted demand for its services. The agency received $29 billion from Congress in December to fund ongoing relief efforts.
A FEMA spokesperson told Reuters last week the agency has not received additional funding to reimburse states for ongoing recovery efforts after Hurricane Helene devastated North Carolina and the U.S. Southeast in late September.
There has been no presidential action or congressional appropriation under the current Trump administration to provide additional funds to FEMA for hurricane recovery efforts, and no credible reports of such funding.
DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN While responding to real-life disasters, FEMA has also battled a slew of false rumors about how its funds have been used. Before his re-election, Trump and his Republican allies accused former President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate for president, of using federal emergency money to help people who were in the country illegally. U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene went as far as to say government officials control the weather.
FEMA has been the target of so many falsehoods it has set up a rumor response page on its website to tamp them down. One entry addresses the accusation that FEMA diverted funs to the border.
“This is false. No money is being diverted from disaster-response needs. FEMA’s disaster-response efforts and individual assistance is funded through the Disaster Relief Fund, which is a dedicated fund for disaster efforts. Disaster Relief Fund money has not been diverted to other, non-disaster related efforts.” FEMA FAILURES The agency has been criticized for emergency responses to hurricanes that fell short, including Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico in 2017. Residents accused then-President Trump of being slow to dispatch aid after Maria and clumsy in his public remarks once it was clear the U.S. territory had been devastated. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina battered New Orleans and flooded parts of the city as residents crowded into ill-prepared shelters. Katrina devastated the Gulf of Mexico coast and caused more than 1,800 deaths. It also shattered the reputation of FEMA, which was sharply criticized for its response.