# FEMA The **Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)** is the [[Department of Homeland Security]] component that coordinates the federal response to disasters — hurricanes, floods, wildfires — administering relief funding, the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), and recovery operations in partnership with states. In the second Trump term it has become one of the most politically contested agencies in government: simultaneously being shrunk, threatened with elimination, and used as a lever of partisan power over disaster-struck states. ## Institutional arc Created by Carter in **1979** to consolidate scattered disaster functions; elevated to cabinet rank and professionalized under James Lee Witt in the 1990s; folded into the new DHS in **2003** and downgraded — a demotion whose cost was exposed by [[Hurricane Katrina]] ("heckuva job, Brownie"). Congress rebuilt the agency with the **Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act (2006)**, requiring qualified leadership and elevating its standing within DHS. The current restructuring effectively reverses the post-Katrina settlement. ## The Trump-2.0 dismantling [[Project 2025]] marked FEMA for shrinkage and state cost-shifting; the administration has executed beyond that blueprint. [[Donald Trump]] called for **eliminating FEMA outright** (first floated while touring [[Hurricane Helene]] damage in North Carolina, January 2025) and chartered a **FEMA Review Council** to redesign it. Acting administrator **Cameron Hamilton was fired in May 2025** a day after telling Congress the agency shouldn't be eliminated; his successor David Richardson drew coverage for remarking he was unaware the U.S. has a hurricane season. [[Kristi Noem]]'s requirement that she personally approve DHS contracts over $100,000 was reported to have delayed call-center renewals and search-and-rescue deployment during the [[2025 Texas Hill Country Flood]]. The Review Council's recommendations (finalized May 2026) would **halve the agency — over 12,000 positions**, mostly disaster workforce — narrow what qualifies for federal aid, reform the NFIP, and shift training and spending authority to states over two to three years; Trump has said the overhaul will come after hurricane season. Analysts (Urban Institute and others) question whether states have the fiscal capacity to absorb the load. ## Aid as political instrument The through-line of the disaster pages linked here: federal relief increasingly tracks partisan alignment. The [[Revolving Door]] Project's tracker counts **51 major-disaster declarations** under the second term — many delayed, all with some aid types denied or jurisdictions excluded — and **at least 18 weather-related requests rejected**. The flagship contrast: the [[2025 Los Angeles Wildfires]] (blue state — conditions demanded, supplemental never passed, approved funds held at DHS HQ) versus the [[2025 Texas Hill Country Flood]] (red state — fast declaration, no conditions). FEMA is also a primary *target* of disaster [[Disinformation]] — the [[Hurricane Helene]]/[[Hurricane Milton]] rumor wave ($750 caps, land seizures, diverted funds) forced the agency to run dedicated rumor-response operations while under threat from armed harassment of its responders. ## See Also - [[Disaster Politics Timeline]] — the full chronological spine, 1900–present - [[Department of Homeland Security]] - [[Project 2025]] - [[Federal Agencies]] - [[Hurricane Katrina]] — the failure that built modern FEMA - [[Hurricane Helene]] — the disinformation siege - [[2025 Los Angeles Wildfires]] / [[2025 Texas Hill Country Flood]] — the partisan double standard - [[Disaster Capitalism and Climate]] — climate disasters as openings for privatization and profit