President Donald Trump questions the future of FEMA

With mounting political pressure on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), President Donald Trump was in Asheville on Friday where he raised serious questions about the future of the agency.

“I’ll also be signing an executive order to begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA or maybe getting rid of FEMA,” said Trump.

FEMA has faced intense scrutiny since Hurricane Helene impacted parts of western North Carolina in late September 2024, with criticism ranging from running out of funds and allegedly avoiding homes with Trump signs to victims being forced out of hotels at the last minute.

Trump told reporters on Friday that he believes disaster management should be led by the states and not the federal government.

“I think, frankly, FEMA’s not good. I think when you have a problem like this, I think you want to go. And, whether it’s a Democrat or a Republican governor, you want to use your state to fix it and not waste time calling FEMA,” said the President.

North Carolina has a checkered past with state-run relief programs, under Former Democrat Governor Roy Cooper, The North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency (NCORR) ran a $300+ million dollar budget deficit and still has more than 1,000+ homes pending construction from Hurricanes that affected North Carolina in 2016 and 2018.

Governor Josh Stein has sidelined NCORR for relief efforts in the western half of the state and created the Governor’s Recovery Office for Western North Carolina (GROW NC).

The Governor, who met with the President in Asheville, said in a statement on X that he looks forward to working with the new administration.

“It’s a positive signal that President Trump made his first visit outside the capital as President to our mountains. I thanked the President for coming and asked for his support of $20 billion in additional disaster relief and for 100% reimbursement of eligible FEMA expenses for another six months,” said Stein. “Families, businesses, and communities are struggling and need these urgent resources to help them rebuild. I look forward to working with the Trump administration in the coming weeks and months to get people what they need to recover.”

Rep. Tim Moore, NC-14 highlighted in a recent op-ed that FEMA mismanaged their resources as a result of failed policies of the previous administration.

“The previous administration’s misplaced priorities drained FEMA’s resources, leaving families in desperate need without the help they were promised,” wrote Moore. “While FEMA’s budget had been funneled toward covering the cost of failed border policies, disaster-stricken communities in Western North Carolina have been forced to fight for every ounce of aid they should have received without delay.”

Senator Thom Tillis, R-NC, commented on the presidential visit, saying he expects things to change under the new administration.

“Under President Biden, FEMA’s failure to act and communicate swiftly put vulnerable families at risk with freezing temperatures outside. Despite our continued pressure, FEMA made little progress in providing direct housing solutions for those most affected by Helene,” said Tillis. “Things will be changing under President Trump, and his visit shows his Administration is committed to the people of Western North Carolina as he promised during the campaign. I look forward to working with the Trump-Vance Administration to ensure that every available federal resource is deployed and that red tape preventing families from accessing housing is eliminated.”

The post President Donald Trump questions the future of FEMA first appeared on Carolina Journal.

 

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