Trump wants states to pay more after disasters like wildfires. Here’s how FEMA works now

US President Donald Trump is headed to Western North Carolina, his support for Los Angeles moved like wildfire on Friday, after he hurled scorn at California leaders for water policies that he claimed corners deteriorated in recent burns.

Trump is also considering reforming the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which was created by President Jimmy Carter in 1980.

“FEMA has not done its job over the last four years” and is “holding back everything,” Trump told Fox News in an interview this week.

The agency has come under intelligent criticism before — most notably during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 — but Trump is seeking to shift the costs of disaster prevention and response so that states take on more of the burden.

President Joe Biden pledged before leaving office that the federal government would cover all costs of responding to wildfires across Los Angeles, which may end up being the worst natural disaster in U.S. history. Verisk Global Analytics expects insured property losses from the Palisades and Eaton Fires, the two most significant fires this month, in the range of $28 billion to $35 billion.

Also, Biden signed an appropriations bill into law last year that replenished the federal disaster aid fund by US$100 billion.

For its part, California approved a relief package on Thursday under the leadership of Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom to spend $2.5 billion from the United States to help the Los Angeles region recover.

Trump has also suggested using federal disaster aid as a bargaining chip during unrelated legislative negotiations over government borrowing, or financial leverage to convince California to change some policies. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson largely echoed that position that aid should be tied to “conditions” related to forest and water management.

Some California Republicans have stumbled upon the idea.

“Playing politics with people’s livelihoods is unacceptable and a slap in the face to the victims of Southern California wildfires and to our brave responders,” Republican Rep. Young Kim, whose closely divided district is entrenched in Orange County, southeast of Los Angeles, said in a statement. .

What is not FEMA

Experts stress that FEMA is not responsible for the entire recall process.

“Everyone thinks FEMA just comes in after the disaster and starts managing the entire disaster,” said Brooke Long, FEMA administrator from 2017 to 2019. “That’s not the case.”

When there is a warning—as is the case with hurricanes—FEMA coordinates state and local governments on needs and can be affected in advance such as water or cannabis in potentially harder-hit areas. FEMA also has its own search and rescue teams to dispatch.

It’s also not possible, given the number of people in the United States in a given year affected by floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and wildfires, to completely address one person’s disaster. There are caps on both emergency and FEMA rebuilding assistance for those who don’t have enough home insurance coverage.

Samantha L said. “FEMA doesn’t make anyone whole after a disaster,” said Montano, assistant professor of emergency management at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. “They won’t give you enough money to completely get your life back.”

What does FEMA do?

FEMA has an operating budget and a disaster relief fund.

The fund is essentially the country’s checkbook for emergencies. The government uses it to reimburse states and local governments for activities such as debris removal, road reconstruction, or overtime costs.

At the individual level, FEMA can send people $750 payments for emergency needs like clothing and food. Later in the recovery process, it can save up to $42,500 for some uninsured homeowners to rebuild.

The federal government doesn’t help with every disaster — it generally has to be higher than a community or state can handle. A governor or tribal authority in this case asks the president to declare an emergency.

FEMA challenges

There are long-term funding concerns for FEMA.

The Disaster Assistance Fund sometimes runs late in the summer — typically Atlantic hurricane season — before Congress passes a new budget, and it was not uncommon for the agency to submit a so-called “supplemental” funding request.

Most of what goes into the disaster relief fund already comes in these requests, the Congressional Budget Office’s 2022 report said. “A small number of those disasters represent a disproportionate share of total spending,” the report noted.

When the disaster fund runs low, FEMA moves to what is called “immediate needs funding.” This means that the agency stops paying for past disasters and saves its money for life-saving missions during any active ones. When the disaster relief fund is replenished, the money flows back into long-term projects.

“Frankly, there’s a lot of work to be done to streamline it and rethink, ‘How do you create a disaster relief fund… in a way that a FEMA administrator doesn’t have to constantly ask for additional funding?’ “He said for a long time.

What might Trump do?

Trump made Cameron Hamilton, a former Navy SEAL and unsuccessful Republican congressional candidate from Virginia, the interim administrator of the agency. Hamilton previously worked on emergency management issues for the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department, but has limited experience dealing with natural disasters.

Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for Trump’s second term drawn up by the president’s allies, included dramatic proposals for FEMA, including moving it to the Department of the Interior or the Department of Transportation, rather than Homeland Security.

Another proposal was to cap the federal reimbursement rate for younger disasters at 25 percent of costs, and 75 percent for older ones. Presidents can currently allow 100 percent reimbursement for certain expenses.

Trump has downplayed climate change, and it’s questionable whether that view will change in the next four years, even as both Hurricane Helen and the Los Angeles fires are made worse by global warming, according to experts.

In Helen’s case, a study by international climate scientists at World Weathertive found that climate change has boosted storm rainfall by 10 percent.

In California, the state experienced a record dry fall and winter — its traditional wet season — making the surrounding area of ​​Los Angeles even more vulnerable.

In his first term, Trump was accused of politicizing disasters. According to a recent Politics series of investigative pieces, Wildfire is withholding aid to Washington state, due to his personal animus toward Gov. Jay Inslee. Also, he sometimes appeared more critical of officials when adverse weather events occurred in Democratic-led jurisdictions, including Wildfires in California and Hurricanes in Puerto Rico.