{"id":1052250,"date":"2025-03-27T13:46:47","date_gmt":"2025-03-27T17:46:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1052250"},"modified":"2025-03-27T13:46:48","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T17:46:48","slug":"trump-and-musk-want-to-gut-fema-and-storm-battered-communities-are-paying-the-price","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/trump-and-musk-want-to-gut-fema-and-storm-battered-communities-are-paying-the-price\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump and Musk Want to Gut FEMA \u2013 And \u201cStorm-Battered Communities\u201d Are Paying the Price"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Donald Trump and shadow President Elon Musk have picked their next target: gutting FEMA right before hurricane season while communities across the country are already waiting for tens of millions of dollars in critically needed relief. Rather than focusing on communities ravaged by devastating natural disasters, Trump and Musk are instead slashing emergency relief to pay for another <\/em>round of handouts for the ultra-wealthy. Once again, Trump is putting his billionaire backers\u2019 bottom line ahead of the needs of the American people.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s a look at how Trump and Musk are gutting federal emergency management: <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York Times<\/a>: \u201cMusk Targeted FEMA. Storm-Battered Communities Are Paying a Price.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn southeastern Michigan, communities hit by devastating floods two years ago are waiting for federal money to cover the cost of rebuilding<\/strong>. \u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is not clear what government agencies,<\/strong> if any, would take over FEMA\u2019s role delivering aid to communities<\/strong> hit by disasters. \u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[NC small co-op utility] got approved for an expedited grant under FEMA\u2019s public assistance program in early February, according to Jeff Loven, the co-op\u2019s general manager and CEO. It was supposed to get $9 million by the middle of last month, he added, but was still waiting for the money as of Wednesday afternoon.<\/strong> \u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut [Compass 82 Executive Director Susan] Marticek said she is still waiting on about $1.3 million in reimbursements<\/strong>, for work done in November, December and January. Without that money, she said she expects she\u2019ll need to start laying off staff<\/strong> in two or three months \u2014 just as hurricane season starts.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPacific Gateway Center, a nonprofit in Hawaii that helps survivors of the 2023 Lahaina wildfire get back on their feet<\/strong>, last got money from FEMA in December, according to its executive director, Matthew Johnson. He had expected additional reimbursements to come early this year, but as of Wednesday that money had not yet arrived. <\/strong>He estimated that his group can hold out for maybe one or two months before it starts cutting case workers.<\/strong> \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMichigan\u2019s state emergency management agency was waiting on $112 million in funds \u2026 Maryland\u2019s emergency management department was waiting for $81 million in frozen FEMA grants<\/strong> as of Wednesday\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Politico<\/a>: \u201cNew Noem plan leaves FEMA on the chopping block\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNoem told Trump administration officials in a meeting Tuesday at Department of Homeland Security headquarters that she wants to eliminate FEMA\u2019s role in funding long-term rebuilding efforts and halt multibillion-dollar grant programs that help communities prepare for disasters.<\/strong> \u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe meeting \u2026 occurred one day after Noem said publicly that \u2018we\u2019re going to eliminate FEMA.\u2019<\/strong>\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington Post<\/a>: \u201cTrump officials working to strip FEMA\u2019s role in disaster recovery by Oct. 1\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[A] number of possibilities were floated to strip FEMA of<\/strong> some of its key functions, such as helping rebuild after disasters strike<\/strong> and<\/strong>, according to one person, funding resilience initiatives that help communities prepare for disasters.<\/strong> \u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe closed-door push to abolish or substantially cut FEMA\u2019s authorities \u2026 comes barely two months ahead of the start of the Atlantic hurricane season. \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFEMA reimburses state and local governments for much of the cost of disaster response and recovery.<\/strong> Without that federal money, governments may need to raid their budgets for education, health care and other areas in order to pay<\/strong> for emergency response \u2014 and even then might struggle to cope with mounting disasters.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

CNN<\/a>: \u201c\u2018We\u2019re not preparing\u2019: As Trump officials vow to eliminate FEMA, the agency is already in turmoil<\/strong>\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLast week, FEMA employees received an email titled \u2018Hiring Update,\u2019<\/strong> which outlined a new process, effective immediately, requiring that the majority of the agency\u2019s workers, many of whom hold 2-to-4-year term positions, be directly approved by Secretary Noem\u2019s team<\/strong> in order to be renewed for another term. \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInstead of preparing for hurricane season<\/strong>, one official told CNN, they\u2019ve spent days checking workers\u2019 renewal dates and working on justifications for their roles.<\/strong> \u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMore than $100 billion of previously awarded grant money and disaster assistance is currently frozen at FEMA<\/strong>. \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNearly all FEMA payments outside of individual disaster assistance have been paused, preventing states, localities and nonprofits from being reimbursed.<\/strong> That includes entities like fire departments<\/strong> that are frequently awarded federal grants to pay for equipment and staffing as well as disaster recovery money to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene and the wildfires in California<\/strong>.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump and shadow President Elon Musk have picked their next target: gutting FEMA right before hurricane season while communities across the country are already waiting for tens of millions of dollars in critically needed relief. Rather than focusing on communities ravaged by devastating natural disasters, Trump and Musk are instead slashing emergency relief to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":293,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1052250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTrump and Musk Want to Gut FEMA \u2013 And \u201cStorm-Battered Communities\u201d Are Paying the Price - Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/trump-and-musk-want-to-gut-fema-and-storm-battered-communities-are-paying-the-price\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-27T17:46:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-27T17:46:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?w=1024\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Shelby Reese\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Shelby Reese\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/trump-and-musk-want-to-gut-fema-and-storm-battered-communities-are-paying-the-price\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/trump-and-musk-want-to-gut-fema-and-storm-battered-communities-are-paying-the-price\/\",\"name\":\"Trump and Musk Want to Gut FEMA \u2013 And \u201cStorm-Battered Communities\u201d Are Paying the Price - 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