President Donald Trump’s administration’s disaster chief has a scary warning to U.S. states, noting the government is set to begin shedding disaster aid. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Cameron Hamilton told officials they must build up their emergency funds and resources to handle most disasters without federal assistance. The warning comes amid the administration’s long-term plan to transition disaster relief responsibilities to states.
“Every state must have the appropriate financial reserves” and other abilities “to ensure that recovery efforts can start immediately and not necessarily be held up simply because of the federal [disaster] declaration process,” Hamilton said, per records uncovered by POLITICO. “A future that I hope we would shoot for is one where we wouldn’t require as many disasters because the capability of states is so high and so substantial,” Hamilton added. FEMA didn’t respond to POLITICO’s request for comment.
Hamilton’s remarks at the National Emergency Management Association’s annual conference add detail to his Oct. 15 internal memo — reported by POLITICO — which said FEMA will “strengthen state and local capacity.”
The transition is not expected to be smooth, with logistical and political challenges predicted to come as the plan is underway. A FEMA report released last week found that state disaster agencies “are typically understaffed and underfunded” and that many agencies are heavily dependent on federal funding.
One official commented on the potential difficulties that will impact already underfunded states. “There are many states with [minuscule] emergency management offices and budgets. There are states with slim rainy-day funds and no capacity to make up for a lack of federal disaster recovery funds — without RAISING TAXES!” Eric Holdeman, a longtime emergency management official, wrote on LinkedIn in response to Hamilton’s memo.
He added: “Reducing the number of federal disaster declarations will be difficult and its implementation will be impossible! All Presidents, not just the one we have today, will ignore such a policy when it becomes politically expedient to do so.” Holden is the previous emergency management director in King County, Washington.
POLITICO reports they obtained a recording of the speech from someone who attended the conference. The Trump administration says the goal is to have a “national mutual aid,” where states support one another in recovering from disasters, such as storms and flooding. “You will also see us asking for greater alleviation and waiving of federal environmental and historical preservation requirements — things that add layers of bureaucracy,” Hamilton said. The administration’s plan has not been made public.