President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he planned to start “eliminating” the Federal Emergency Management Agency after the hurricane season and that states would receive less federal help to respond to natural disasters.
Trump also said he planned to distribute disaster aid funds directly from the president’s office.
“We are going to do it very differently,” Trump said in an informative session in the White House in response to a question about when he planned to eliminate FEMA and what his message was to the governors with respect to the states that have more disaster relief costs.
“We are going to give less money,” he said.
“We are going to give it directly. It will be from the president’s office. We will have someone here, it could be national security.”
In an apparent reference to his plans to reduce the disaster relief agency, Trump added: “I would say that after the hurricane season we will begin to eliminate it.”
The American hurricane season officially began on June 1 and lasts until November. The National Administration of Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted last month that this year’s season would be above normal with up to 10 hurricanes.
Trump’s comments were among the most direct to date, which indicates their intention to significantly reduce if not directly eliminated to FEMA, which has an annual budget of around $ 30 billion and used more than 20,000 people, including reservists, before layoffs earlier this year.
Distributing funds directly from the White House would also mark a deviation from the current protocols, under which FEMA supervises the dissemination of financial aid to the states after the statement of a disaster of the president.
Also in the informative session, the Secretary of National Security, Kristi Noem, said that Fema “fundamentally needs to disappear as it exists” and that the governors were encouraged to work together to respond to disasters.
“We are building communication agreements and mutual help between the states … so that they can stay alone with both feet with the federal government in catastrophic circumstances with funds,” said Noem.
FEMA is part of the Department of National Security.
