CLIMATEWIRE | President Donald Trump said Tuesday that his administration will wait until after this hurricane season to begin cutting disaster aid to states.
Trump’s comments to reporters during an Oval Office briefing are the clearest signal yet that Trump would continue to help states grapple with disasters for at least several more months, despite his threats to abolish the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
When asked how much disaster-related costs would be shifted to states from FEMA, Trump at one point turned to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and said, “We think, after this... Kristi, I’d say after the hurricane season, we’ll start phasing—”
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“We set up a FEMA council,” Noem interjected. “Over the next couple of months, we’ll be working on reforms and what FEMA will look like in the future as a different agency.”
“We’re going to give out less money,” Trump said, reiterating his plan to give states more responsibility for rebuilding after disasters.
Trump created the FEMA Review Council led by Noem and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to issue recommendations for overhauling the agency by Nov. 16 — two weeks before the end of the Atlantic hurricane season. Trump has repeatedly criticized FEMA as ineffective.
His comments came one day after he approved two separate requests for disaster aid from Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe (R) following devastating tornadoes and storms in April.
In late May, Trump approved 10 disaster declarations after a weekslong delay prevented some areas from beginning cleanup, resulting in pressure from governors and lawmakers who pushed the president to pick up the pace. Trump proposed a record amount of money for FEMA’s disaster fund in his fiscal 2026 budget request to Congress.
Trump's budget director, Ross Vought, said at the news briefing Tuesday that FEMA's disaster fund is “projected to get us all the way into the end of the fiscal year” Sept. 30.
But a monthly report on the disaster fund released by FEMA on June 3 projects the fund will have a $7.8 billion deficit in September. The report reflects the fund’s financial condition on April 30.
Neither the White House nor the Office of Management and Budget responded to requests for comment about Vought's assertion.
The monthly reports from FEMA often show the disaster fund running out of money in the final months of the fiscal year and sometimes help prod Congress to add money to the fund.
Reprinted from E&E News with permission from POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2025. E&E News provides essential news for energy and environment professionals.
