Disaster Recovery

2025 February

2025-02-21 The Trump administration made cuts to FEMA, beginning with laying off hundreds of staff, freezing grants, and denying some states’ requests for disaster recovery funds. After the cuts Central Texas had trouble receiving flood response.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/climate/fema-missed-calls-texas-floods.html

https://kennedy.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=2290#:~:text=Compounding%20these%20deliberate%20staffing%20cuts,in%20times%20of%20dire%20need.

https://blog.ucs.org/shana-udvardy/the-terrible-texas-flood-tragedy-made-worse-by-trump-administrations-dysfunctional-fema-response/#:~:text=DHS%20Secretary%20Kristi%20Noem%20did,the%20cancellation%20of%20the%20contractors.

https://www.opb.org/article/2025/08/07/fema-failed-to-staff-disaster-hotline-after-texas-floods/#:~:text=At%20least%20one%20Texas%20official,respond%20to%20questions%20from%20NPR.

https://stateline.org/2025/07/15/federal-disaster-aid-is-uncertain-for-states-even-as-texas-floods-underscore-need/#:~:text=Aside%20from%20the%20cuts%20to%20state%20funding%2C,staff%2C%20according%20to%20The%20New%20York%20Times.

https://www.kff.org/racial-equity-and-health-policy/impacts-of-recent-federal-and-state-actions-on-natural-disaster-preparedness-and-response-on-health/#:~:text=In%20April%202025%2C%20FEMA%20suspended,coordinate%20disaster%20response%20and%20recovery.

2025 April

2025-04-01 The Trump administration made cuts to the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program (BRIC), claiming it was wasteful and ineffective and more focused on political agendas than helping Americans. BRIC was designed to help communities prepare for climate disasters as part of the EPA.

https://www.floods.org/news-views/fema-news/fema-ends-bric-program-leaving-states-in-the-lurch/

https://www.naco.org/news/federal-judge-temporarily-halts-bric-grant-program-termination

https://oag.maryland.gov/News/Pages/Attorney-General-Brown-Secures-Court-Victory-Preventing-Trump-Administration-from-Unlawfully-Cutting-Billions-in-Disaster-P.aspx

2025-04-25 The Trump administration cut $400M in funding to AmeriCorps, stating the grants no longer fit AmeriCorps priorities, but the administration did not articulate further. The cuts impacted 32,000 people, halted work in fields like disaster recovery, education, environmental stewardship and public health.

https://www.npr.org/2025/05/09/nx-s1-5383188/trumps-gutting-of-americorps-hits-hard-for-both-volunteers-and-communities

2025 August

2025-08-27 FEMA members were placed on leave after signing a Katrina Declaration warning of the effects on funding cuts.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/fema-employees-critical-of-trump-placed-on-leave-amid-crackdown-on-dissent

2025 September

2025-09-08 Cameron Hamilton was fired from FEMA just one day after he told lawmakers the agency should not be dismantled.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/08/fired-fema-chief-relationship-trump-officials-00548907

https://democrats-appropriations.house.gov/news/press-releases/delauro-demands-explanation-trumps-firing-fema-administrator-cameron-hamilton

2025 October

2025-10-18 Multiple sources suggest FEMA had been politicized. The DHS website suggested that the Biden administration withheld aid from Red States, while other sources in 2026 gave examples of the Trump administration not fully reimbursing Blue States; both sides of the aisle claiming discrimination.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DWJU2ScjArU/

https://statecourtreport.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/trumps-threats-withhold-disaster-relief-undermine-federalism-principles

https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/26/politics/disaster-aid-fema-states-trump-shutdown

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABJwDIUwE3U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r15YTc7imvY

https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/10/21/dhs-exposes-how-fema-officials-under-biden-administration-systematically-refused

https://www.fema.gov/press-release/20251018/fema-refutes-misrepresentation-disaster-relief-funding-recent-media-coverage

https://theconversation.com/why-femas-disaster-relief-gets-political-especially-when-hurricane-season-and-election-season-collide-241092

https://cepr.net/publications/disaster-declarations-continue-to-highlight-trumps-partisan-favoritism/