President Donald Trump has declared his intention to sign an executive order aimed at fundamentally reforming or potentially dismantling the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
During a visit to North Carolina, Trump criticized FEMA’s performance, suggesting that disaster response responsibilities should be shifted to state governments.
This proposal comes as Trump prepares to tour fire-ravaged neighborhoods in Los Angeles, California.
“I’ll also be signing an executive order to begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA or maybe getting rid of FEMA,” Trump told the reporters during the press conference.
“Frankly, FEMA is not good. I think when you have a problem like this, you want to go. Whether it’s a Democrat or Republican governor, you want to use your state to fix it and not waste time calling FEMA.
“And then FEMA gets here, and they don’t know the area—they’ve never been to the area—and they want to give you rules that you’ve never heard about.
“They want to bring people that aren’t as good as the people you already have. And FEMA has turned out to be a disaster.”
The President didn’t hold back, pointing to numerous examples of FEMA’s failures across the country.
“You could go back a long way; you could go back to Louisiana. You could go back to some of the things that took place in Texas. It turns out to be the state that ends up doing the work. It just complicates it.”
Trump’s proposed overhaul would shift disaster relief responsibilities directly to the states, with federal funding allocated more efficiently.
I think we’re going to recommend that FEMA go away, and we pay directly. We pay a percentage to the state, but the state should fix it.”
WATCH:
NOW – President Trump Says He’s Considering ‘Getting Rid of FEMA’
“FEMA has turned out to be a disaster … It turns out to be the state that ends up doing the work. It just complicates it. I think we’re going to recommend that FEMA go away and we pay a percentage to the state.” pic.twitter.com/8p3yKeGVap
— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) January 24, 2025
During his visit to North Carolina, Trump also exposed FEMA’s corruption by having the victims of Hurricane Helene in North Carolina share their heartbreaking stories live.
WATCH:
President Trump allows Hurricane Helene victims in North Carolina to tell their heartbreaking stories in front of the nation.
The forgotten men and women of this country are forgotten no more. pic.twitter.com/ofEDlFfl3X
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) January 24, 2025
In a separate press conference after having the survivors share their heartbreaking stories, Trump told the press he wanted to bring the aid locally.
“We want to bring it locally so that a state takes care of its problem, and then they can bring it down to a local level… But you had a number of people that did a great job. You have groups that did a great job and organizations. The one that didn’t do a good job was the government. They did a bad job.
“In many ways, they did no job. They weren’t even available… The answer is, we go local. I think it’ll work much better. FEMA is a very expensive organization that really doesn’t work out very well. It hasn’t. This is not the only example. If it was up to me right now, it would end right now, and I’d just let the state take care of the problem. I mean, you can always have problems. If it’s Florida, it’s a hurricane—let Florida take care of it. They don’t need FEMA to come in.”
FEMA IS USELESS!!! —LET THE STATES TAKE CARE OF IT!!! pic.twitter.com/XwiGe6BxDs
— il Donaldo Trumpo (@PapiTrumpo) January 24, 2025
Last year, FEMA faced intense scrutiny following revelations of corruption within the agency.
A whistleblower has come forward with text messages revealing FEMA ordered relief workers to purposely skip over homes in Florida displaying Trump signs in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton.
According to internal messages obtained by The Daily Wire, FEMA discriminated against Trump supporters in need of help in the aftermath of the most recent hurricanes that passed through the Southeast.
“Whistleblowers say that relief workers were told it was “best practice” to pass over houses “advertising Trump.”” The Daily Wire reported.
The workers would enter into the system that they made no contact with the residents, blaming the directive: “Trump sign, no contact per leadership”
Additionally, over the past two years, FEMA has funneled more than $1 billion in taxpayer dollars away from American disaster relief efforts — and into the pockets of illegal immigrants.
For the second consecutive year, FEMA has implemented Immediate Needs Funding, putting long-term recovery projects on hold due to a severe shortage in the Disaster Relief Funds (DRF), according to a report from NRDC last year.
FEMA estimates it will fall $7 billion short of the funds needed to manage new disasters, thanks to reckless financial decisions. Instead of rebuilding communities, repairing public infrastructure, or mitigating future disasters, FEMA is sinking taxpayer dollars into programs for illegal immigrants while disaster-stricken Americans wait for help that may never come.
