The Big Shift
A Future Without FEMA?
L egally, states and localities have always borne the sole responsibility of dealing with calamitous events like hurricanes, tornados and wildfires. But when they can’t cover the costs, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has stepped in to provide necessary resources, without which devastated areas could remain in dire condition indefinitely. The Trump administration has already cut more than 2,000 full-time employees from FEMA and has threatened to eliminate the agency altogether. These cuts have also required states return more than $880 million that had already been allocated under the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program. Although the July 4 budget bill did not specifically reduce FEMA’s budget, it included $150 million in funding cuts for weather forecasting at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That follows earlier staff reductions and cuts to grants and research funding that raised concerns about a decline in weather prediction capability, particularly given the constant widespread threat of wildfires, floods, hurricanes and other serious weather events. The recent budget did include an additional $2.9 billion for the U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s emergency and crop insurance programs. This agriculture-related funding will help rural areas with rebuilding damaged irrigation, clearing debris and generally recovering more quickly when hit by floods or wildfires. Setting aside that increase, plentiful worries exist over FEMA’s future, with President Trump announcing on June 10 that he intended to begin phasing out FEMA after the end of the current hurricane season. The ultimate impact is uncertain, but Bloomberg unearthed a memo in mid-June that stated, “Potential changes included eliminating long-term housing assistance for disaster survivors, halting enrollments in the National Flood Insurance Program and providing smaller amounts of aid for fewer incidents — moves that by design would dramatically limit the federal government’s role in disaster response.” A FEMA Review Council, established by a presidential executive order in January 2025, will issue final recommendations in mid to late November. In July, comments from Trump administration officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, suggested the
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