Congress must protect, strengthen FEMA
More than 180 current and former FEMA staff recently sounded the alarm in a letter to Congress, warning that the agency’s current leadership under DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and acting FEMA Administrator David Richardson is undermining disaster preparedness and response — paving the way for a catastrophe on the scale of Hurricane Katrina.
FEMA is the nation’s frontline defense when disasters strike. Its staff coordinates search and rescue efforts, distributes aid and helps communities rebuild. According to a recent AP-NORC poll, 8 in 10 Americans — including large bipartisan majorities — agree the federal government should play a major role in disaster recovery. Yet, instead of strengthening FEMA, the Trump administration has been relentlessly working to dismantle FEMA, something only members of Congress are permitted to do.
Cuts by the administration’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency have eliminated nearly a quarter of FEMA’s staff just as extreme weather disasters are worsening. Funding delays have forced local emergency management departments to lay off workers. New policy proposals would cut programs for survivors, reduce federal disaster aid and raise the damage threshold for federal disaster declarations — leaving communities and survivors to shoulder unbearable costs.
Congress must act. Lawmakers must strengthen oversight, protect FEMA employees from political retaliation and establish FEMA as an independent, cabinet-level agency, separate from DHS, to restore its mission and effectiveness.
We must raise our voices by submitting comments to DHS Secretary Noem and acting FEMA Administrator Richardson, as well as our senators and representatives, today. Urge them to protect and strengthen FEMA, not dismantle it. Climate disasters are growing in frequency and severity. Weakening FEMA puts lives, homes and entire communities at risk. While we all want efficient government, gutting an agency that all Americans rely on in their darkest hours is a disaster.
Lane Reed
Glen Ellyn