Sec. Snow Queen "Agrees" W. Shitstain That He Should "Get Rid Of FEMA As It Exists Today" [View all]

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem said Sunday that she would recommend to President Donald Trump that he “get rid of FEMA the way it exists today” and allow local officials to have more say about how federal aid is used after disasters. “We still need the resources and the funds and the finances to go to people that have these types of disasters, like Hurricane Helene and the fires in California,” Noem, whose department oversees the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said on CNN. “But you need to let the local officials make the decisions on how that is deployed, so it can be deployed much quicker.”

The Trump administration has been weighing the future of the disaster relief , and The Washington Post has reported that a small team from Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service has gained access to sensitive data to carry out a review of FEMA’s grants. Noem’s comments are similar to what Trump said last month after touring communities in North Carolina and California devastated by floods and wildfires. Trump said at the time that he expected his team would ultimately recommend that the disaster relief agency “go away.” In late January, Trump signed an executive order creating an advisory council to conduct “a full-scale review” of FEMA to recommend improvements or structural changes to the agency.

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It is unclear how different that would be from its current role, which leaves state and local officials in charge of decision-making after they face disasters. And it’s not clear if the executive branch can legally shut down an agency without congressional approval. The review of FEMA mirrors in some ways the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle USAID, which provides aid overseas. Officials have taken steps to curtail USAID’s activities, triggering legal challenges. A federal judge issued a ruling on Friday barring the administration from putting thousands of employees on leave.

Any effort to significantly alter the structure of FEMA would probably face similar challenges. President Jimmy Carter created FEMA using an executive order, and its existence was subsequently written into law by Congress. In the years following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, FEMA was placed under the new Department of Homeland Security. Noem, who appeared Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” said Trump’s team would consult with lawmakers to ensure that any changes to the agency are “done correctly and that we’re still there to help folks who have a terrible disaster or crisis in their life.”

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/02/09/fema-shutdown-noem-trump/