By CHRIS MEGERIAN and WILL WEISSERT, Associated Press
FLETCHER, N.C. (AP) — During his first trip of his second term, President Donald Trump indicated he was thinking about eliminating FEMA when visiting hurricane-ravaged North Carolina on Friday.
The remark, which was delivered at a briefing on the months-long recovery from Hurricane Helene, was the most recent indication that Trump is aiming to drastically alter the role of the federal government in disaster management.
According to the Republican president, FEMA has been a huge letdown. The bureaucracy is very high. It’s also quite slow. We’re really pleased with them aside from that.
Trump said he was considering issuing an executive order on the Federal Emergency Management Agency and that he also intended to travel to wildfire-ravaged Los Angeles later in the day.
After arriving in the Asheville region, he stated, “I would like to see the states handle disasters.” Allow the government to handle hurricanes, tornadoes, and other natural disasters.
That would be faster than sending in FEMA, Trump claimed.
The president claimed that FEMA just hadn’t done its job. We’re examining the FEMA notion as a whole.
FILE: On Monday, September 30, 2024, debris is seen in Asheville, North Carolina, following Hurricane Helene. (Photo courtesy of Mike Stewart, file)AP
When local officials ask for a presidential emergency declaration—a sign that the damage is too great for the state to handle alone—the agency assists in responding to disasters. FEMA provides individuals with temporary financial support and can reimburse municipalities for recovery expenses like debris disposal. Some conservative supporters of Trump have suggested cutting the amount of funding the agency should receive.
Former President Joe Biden’s administration’s response to Hurricane Helene in North Carolina has drawn criticism from Trump. “It’s been a terrible thing the way that’s been allowed to fester since the storm hit in September,” he told reporters as he departed the White House on Friday morning. “We’re going to get it fixed up.”
After being briefed on recovery efforts, Trump will visit a little village outside of Asheville to speak with people who have benefited from the work of Samaritan’s Purse, a humanitarian organization led by Franklin Graham, an evangelical leader.
Trump intends to visit the Pacific Palisades community in California, where rows of houses were destroyed by fire. He is anticipated to be briefed on the ongoing fires, which have forced thousands of people to evacuate.
Trump’s contempt for water policy that he erroneously claimed made the current fires worse has been directed at California authorities. He promised to examine a fire that might have been extinguished had the water been let to flow, but they chose not to do so.
The briefing, which will be attended by members of Congress, may turn out to be controversial. Trump has proposed using federal disaster aid as leverage to influence California to alter its water laws or as a negotiating chip in unrelated legislative debates over government borrowing.
According to a recent statement by Rep. Young Kim, a Republican from Orange County, south of Los Angeles, “playing politics with people’s livelihoods is unacceptable and a slap in the face to the Southern California wildfire victims and to our brave first responders.”
Trump has a habit of tainting catastrophe response with lies and politics. According to former administration officials, he discussed restricting assistance for Democratic states that did not back him during his first term. He asserted, without proof, during his presidential campaign last year that Democrats were deliberately failing to assist residents in Republican-leaning parts of the battleground state of North Carolina.
His attention has also been drawn to California’s water policy, particularly the state’s northern fish conservation initiatives.
In an interview with Sean Hannity of Fox News Channel on Wednesday, Trump stated, “I don’t think we should give California anything until they let the water run down.”
The president also proposed giving states more authority over disaster management.
He told Hannity that FEMA is interfering with everything and that he would prefer to see the states handle their own issues.
According to Michael Coen, who was FEMA’s chief of staff during the Biden administration, Trump was confused about the organization that helps states when they are swamped by disasters.
Coen also took issue with the notion of tying aid to strings.
“You’re going to choose winners and losers based on which communities will receive federal support,” he added. I believe that regardless of where they live, Americans expect the federal government to support them in their hour of need.
Trump visited many catastrophe areas during his last stint as president, including the aftermath of storms and hurricanes. When he threw paper towels to Hurricane Maria survivors in Puerto Rico, for example, he occasionally provoked criticism.
According to Pete Gaynor, who oversaw FEMA during the first Trump administration from 2019 to 2021, “it’s always good when the president comes to town if you’re a disaster survivor, regardless of who you voted for.” You can visit him and, ideally, discuss your community’s needs with him.
In Newland, North Carolina, Laurie Carpenter, a 62-year-old retiree, expressed her excitement for Trump’s arrival, saying she has been let down by the federal reaction. Months after Hurricane Helene, she added, trash and debris are still scattered throughout her area of the state.
“I believe he will take action if anyone is going to do so,” Carpenter added.
As FEMA’s acting head, Trump appointed Cameron Hamilton, a former Navy SEAL with little expertise in disaster management. Additionally, he stated that states should be in charge of coordinating their response to natural catastrophes, not FEMA, and that the federal government should only intervene later to supply financing.
Before he left office, Biden promised that the federal government would pay for all of the expenses associated with fighting the wildfires in the Los Angeles area, which may turn out to be the most expensive natural catastrophes in American history. However, unless Congress provides additional cash, that promise will not be fulfilled.
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