• Trump’s recent remarks and subsequent executive order suggest a move to radically reduce the role of the federal government in disaster relief efforts. After a briefing in North Carolina, Trump called the agency “frankly … not good,” and said, “I’ll also be signing an executive order to begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA or maybe even getting rid of FEMA.” Trump signed an executive order on January 24 establishing a council to review the agency and recommend “improvements or structural changes.” The order specifically directs the council to evaluate “whether FEMA can serve its functions as a support agency, providing supplemental Federal assistance, to the States rather than supplanting State control of disaster relief.” [Executive Order, Council to Assess the Federal Emergency Management Agency, 1/24/25; USA Today, 1/27/25]
• Project 2025’s policy book Mandate for Leadership recommends that states and localities should shoulder “the majority of preparedness and response costs.” In the chapter on the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, former Trump official Ken Cuccinelli wrote, “The bloated DHS bureaucracy and budget, along with the wrong priorities, provide real opportunities for a conservative Administration to cut billions in spending and limit government’s role in Americans’ lives. These opportunities include privatizing TSA screening and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) National Flood Insurance Program, reforming FEMA emergency spending to shift the majority of preparedness and response costs to states and localities instead of the federal government.” [Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, 2023]
• It is yet to be determined whether Trump’s review council will adopt other Project 2025 recommendations related to FEMA, including limiting key disaster aid for families and businesses. Project 2025 suggests ending a low-interest loan program from the Small Business Administration that provides victims of extreme weather events with low-interest loans to rebuild, which according to the Center for American Progress, is “the federal government’s largest source of disaster recovery funds for survivors.” Additionally, Project 2025 proposes making changes to “the threshold for disaster declarations,” which, as CAP explains, would make it “more difficult for states and localities—and, by extension, the families and businesses that call them home—to qualify for federal aid after disaster strikes.” [Center for American Progress, 8/8/24; Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, 2023]
• Our rapidly warming planet is intensifying extreme weather events. The plans to gut or shutter FEMA come at a time when climate change is making extreme weather events more destructive and costly. For example, it is estimated that global warming may have led to a roughly 40-50% increase in Hurricane Helene's destructive power, and experts have repeatedly argued that drought conditions exacerbated by climate-driven extreme heat have created the conditions for the destructive Los Angeles fires. Current cost estimates for the LA fires are above $250 billion. [Yale Climate Communications, 9/27/24; The Columbian, 1/27/25; Los Angeles Times, 1/16/25, 1/24/25]

After Hurricane Helene made landfall in the southeastern United States in late September, misinformation and conspiracy theories related to FEMA’s response fueled anti-government fervor and even calls for violence against FEMA workers. The misinformation was so widespread and harmful to disaster relief operations, local officials and media outlets urged bad actors to stop spreading it. 

• Right-wing media attacks falsely accused the agency of squandering disaster relief money on immigrants, preventing victims of Hurricane Helene from accessing aid, and even seizing the land of people whose homes had been destroyed. Conspiracy theories about government weather manipulation also circulated online. [Media Matters, 10/11/24; Politfact, 10/6/24; USA Today, 10/8/24; CBS, 10/7/24]
• Misinformation and conspiracy theories sowed distrust in the federal government and even seemed to inspire threats of violence against FEMA workers and first responders. Media Matters found content on TikTok, Facebook, Telegram, and X in which users expressed interest in traveling to engage in violence against FEMA workers in North Carolina or support for others doing so. As reported by Politico, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said of the misinformation, “It is absolutely the worst I have ever seen,” noting that “it’s creating distrust in the federal government.” [Media Matters, 10/18/24; Politico, 10/8/25]
• Ample federal resources were deployed to areas impacted by Hurricane Helene. The Biden administration approved federal assistance for multiple states, including Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Virginia, and Georgia. On September 29, the White House released an updated fact sheet detailing the administration's “continued response efforts to Hurricane Helene,” noting that tens of thousands of state and federal personnel are helping victims across several states. This included 50,000 personnel to fix power outages, 3,300 personnel allocating federal resources and helping with search and rescue operations, and 200 medical responders providing health services. On October 2, Biden “directed the Department of Defense to deploy up to 1,000 active-duty soldiers to support the delivery of food, water, and other critical commodities to communities impacted by Hurricane Helene.” [Media Matters, 10/1/24; WTOC 11, 10/2/24]