Take Action: Protect FEMA from the Trump Administration’s Efforts To Gut the Agency

The Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) acts as the manager and distributor of resources during extreme weather events. Its staff oversee search and rescue operations; deployment of aid workers who go door-to-door to assist victims; coordination between federal, state, and local governments and emergency management entities; and disaster recovery assistance in the form of semi-permanent staff who help individuals and businesses figure out how they can recover and rebuild.

Even though FEMA is often the main source of recovery support following a devastating disaster, the Trump administration has been relentlessly working to dismantle FEMA, something only members of Congress are permitted to do. Cuts by the administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have resulted in FEMA losing nearly one-quarter of its staff prior to the start of extreme weather season, when staffing is most critical. And funding delays have also forced local emergency management departments to lay off staff. 

The Trump administration has set its sights on further limiting FEMA’s capabilities by cutting programs; decreasing the federal cost share for public assistance funding, which would increase the cost share for states; and raising the damage threshold for a presidentially declared disaster. Both of the latter policy changes would force states to increase taxes on disaster survivors or leave communities, residents, and businesses stranded in the aftermath of devastating climate disasters.

We cannot allow the Trump administration to gut FEMA’s staff, budget, and programs. Americans need this federal support to stand a fighting chance against climate disasters and the health, economic, and environmental harms they bring.