Trump Plans to Eliminate FEMA after 2025 Hurricane Season
6/11/2025 – President Donald Trump has provided the most specific timeline yet for his plans to eliminate FEMA. He says he will phase out the agency after this hurricane season ends on November 30. According to news reports on CNN and ABC, Trump says he will shift responsibility for disaster relief onto states.
Some Funding for States May Remain Available
However, that does not necessarily mean that ALL funding provided by FEMA will go away. Trump says his office will distribute aid directly to states. But he also reportedly said after an Oval Office briefing that there will be less federal aid.
For months, Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose department oversees FEMA, have vowed to eliminate the agency, repeatedly criticizing it as ineffective and unnecessary. Noem reiterated those plans Tuesday in the Oval Office, saying FEMA “fundamentally needs to go away as it exists.”
Noem didn’t have much good to say about the agency she oversees. According to ABC, she reportedly said, “We all know FEMA has failed thousands, if not millions of people.” She obviously never lived in a FEMA trailer after her home was swept away by floodwaters.
Are States Prepared to Take Over FEMA’s Role?
No one thinks FEMA is perfect. The most frequent criticism: that it takes too long for aid to reach the people who need it when they need it most.
According to CNN, Trump’s exact long-term plans for the federal government’s role in disaster response remain unclear. But the administration is seeking ways to make it far more difficult to qualify for federal aid and have state’s handle the job.
However, plans to eliminate FEMA have reportedly baffled state emergency managers. Many doubt localized efforts could replace the agency. Most states, they said, do not have the budget or personnel to handle catastrophic disasters on their own, even if the federal government provides a financial backstop.
The Atlantic said that’s Trump’s statements suggest that “he does not understand that states already do lead disaster response; they just can’t do it without an infusion of FEMA dollars and expertise when the disaster is too big.” They concluded, “The buck has been passed.”
I’m personally waiting to hear how duplicating FEMA capabilities in 50 states and then putting them on standby between less frequent emergencies will improve efficiency.
What Will Happen When a Disaster Overwhelms a State?
Ironically, this morning, I started preparing a post on a Report to the President titled “What’s Needed to Advance Hurricane Helene Recovery in Western North Carolina.” U.S. Representative Chuck Edwards from western North Carolina prepared the report in April 2025.
The 62-page, well written report contains 17 common-sense recommendations to fix FEMA and other government disaster aid programs, not eliminate them. The recommendations focus on how to speed up the delivery of aid an eliminate red tape.
As I read the report, I had an eerie sense of deja vu. I kept flashing back to the problems Texas encountered after Hurricane Harvey – problems we still battle almost eight years later.
Edwards puts the scope of North Carolina’s disaster in perspective. He says, “In American history, only eight hurricanes have reached the $50 billion damage threshold across the area of impact. For Hurricane Helene, North Carolina has calculated at least $59.6 billion in damage in North Carolina alone, not include the six other states of impact.”
Helene, to cite a few examples:
- Wiped out 18% of one North Carolina county’s housing stock
- Forced 1300 companies in another county out of business
- Caused a 70% decline in yet another county’s tourist economy
- Damaged 152 bridges
- Destroyed 4 miles of Interstate 40 and caused detours costing local businesses as much as $60,000 per month
“The tragic reality is that Western North Carolina is at risk of going bankrupt.”
Rep. Chuck Edwards, North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District, Page 38
Among Edwards’ 17 recommendations, he includes these:
- Eliminate or consolidate duplicative programs and processes between agencies
- Modernize FEMA’s outdated IT systems
- Simplify processes for disaster survivors
Edwards’ report is highly recommended reading.
It seems to me that reforming disaster relief may be a better alternative than handing it off to states, such as North Carolina, that may find themselves unable to cope with disasters as large as Helene.
If Trump gets this wrong, it could be his undoing. More than 55 million Americans live in areas directly exposed to hurricanes. But according to Fox News, Trump won the 2024 election by only 2.3 million votes.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/11/25
2843 Days since Hurricane Harvey
The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.
