Hurricane Beryl, a relatively weak storm, caused at least $1.5 billion in direct damage in Texas in July 2024. It was just one of the 27 billion-dollar disasters that hit the United States last year. That increasing tempo of major disasters, along with ever-expanding duties, has left the Federal Emergency Management Agency struggling to provide aid efficiently and consistently.
Tuesday, President Donald Trump said he wants to phase out the agency after the 2025 hurricane season. It wasnt the first time he proposed eliminating the agency, but it was a surprise to have a timeline attached. And it undercuts other efforts he launched to provide advice about restructuring the agency.
In January, he issued an executive order establishing a FEMA Review Council to assess the agencys ability to capably and impartially address disasters. The council met publicly for the first and possibly only time on May 20. It was supposed to submit a report to the president within six months. That may all be moot now.
Too bad. An outside review panel could have been helpful if it were able to make useful suggestions. The current FEMA review council includes Gov. Greg Abbott and W. Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management. Both are appropriate. Texas regularly endures hurricanes, floods, wildfires, hail and windstorms. The council also has members from Louisiana and Mississippi, and three from Florida. Only one member hails from anywhere in the West.
The councils first meeting barely delved into data or detailed policy, and no one mentioned that Trump planned to dissolve FEMA later this year.
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, who led the meeting, described the administrations two priorities: Requiring states to take more responsibility for disaster response, and allocating disaster assistance to states as block grants. Other critical issues, such as the role of private insurance in disaster recovery, received only brief mentions.
Now it appears the administration never planned to take advice from council members, or to study FEMA with the goal of helping it function more effectively. Noem even alluded this week to forming a council to help re-imagine FEMA within Homeland Security. Another one?
The presidents erratic approach is just making it harder for governments at all levels to respond to major disasters.
Luckily, others are trying to clarify FEMAs responsibilities and streamline its operations. In May, U.S. Reps. Sam Graves, R-Mo., and Rick Larsen, D-Wash., released a discussion draft of a FEMA reform bill. It proposes moving FEMA out of Homeland Security and making it a Cabinet-level agency. The bill would narrow the disasters that qualify for federal funds, create a single application form for all federal disaster aid, and establish a panel to review and close out the 1,000 open disaster declarations dating back two decades.
This newspaper cant endorse every line of their 177-page bill. But theirs is a serious attempt to improve an agency this country needs now more than ever. Americans concerned about disaster response should hope their approach prevails.
