CNN
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President Donald Trump suggested on Friday that he might exclude the Federal Emergency Management Agency during a trip to the damage caused by Hurricane Helen flooding in North Carolina.
Trump’s comments came as he was traveling to California. There, wildfires ravaged the Los Angeles area and Republicans on Capitol Hill began to navigate between conservatives’ desire for cuts and Trump’s pledge to help rebuild both places. The trip is Trump’s first outside Washington since taking office on Monday.
“This is probably one of the best examples of it not working,” he told reporters of FEMA’s efforts in North Carolina. He tried to contrast his leadership and what he said with Democratic mismanagement in a swing state he won three times.
He then said they may soon abolish the agency and instead manage their own disaster relief efforts to send money directly to states.
And he has tapped political allies — Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley, a North Carolina native, to lead the state’s recovery efforts along with Democratic Gov. Josh Stein. Chief Michael Whaley).
Asked how he would solve North Carolina’s challenges, Trump said, “I’m not really thinking about FEMA right now.” Instead, he turned Whatley and three Republicans against three members of Congress.
“I think if there’s a problem in the state, that problem should be taken care of by the state. That’s what we have — they take care of the problem and the governor does something very quickly. We can handle it,” the president said.
He called FEMA “a huge disappointment,” describing it as slow, overly bureaucratic and expensive for the federal government.
“FEMA turned out to be a disaster,” he said. “I recommend that FEMA go away and pay directly. We pay a percentage to the states and the states have to fix it.”
FEMA officials scrambled to understand his comments in North Carolina on Friday. Employees across the country are calling and texting each other to say what his statement means for the future of the agency and those working on the ground.
Trump’s desire to eliminate or reduce FEMA could have a chilling effect on emergency response even at the state level, former FEMA chief Deanne Criswell told CNN.
“We need to take him on his word. I think state emergency management directors should be worried about what this means for the spring tornado season,” Joe Biden said. said Criswell, who served under the former president. “Do they have the resources to protect their residents?”
FEMA assigns specific tasks, such as cleaning up debris, to other federal agencies like the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has cleaned up debris from recent disasters like the Helen and Maui wildfires. States cannot activate these resources on their own.
“This coordination work, led by FEMA, is one of the most important (roles) played in stabilizing these incidents,” Criswell said. In addition to assisting with post-disaster recovery and reconstruction payments, FEMA reimburses states and localities for search and rescue in their immediate response to disasters.
If the state loses this funding from FEMA, she said, they will have to come up with money elsewhere.
Trump’s comments also left many unanswered questions about what these plans mean for displaced residents in western North Carolina.
According to FEMA, approximately 13,000 Western North Carolina households are using the Transitional Shelter Assistance Program. And agency officials said in a letter to Stein last Sunday that they were extending the program through May 26. Frustrated by the struggle to get timely answers about their future, what kind of assistance they are eligible for, and when that assistance will end.
In the immediate aftermath of hurricane flooding, including claims that FEMA funds were being directed to immigrant services instead of recovery efforts and claims that survivors could qualify for $750 in aid, , an unprecedented amount of misinformation was circulated about the storm and the federal government’s response. . Trump amplified many of these false claims.
‘Just ridiculous’: NC mayor debunks land claims following Hurricane Helen
Trump’s trip comes after he spoke extensively about aid for both California and North Carolina and how to fund it in a meeting with House and Senate Republican leaders earlier this week. .
With Republicans now controlling both chambers of Congress and conservatives demanding lower spending, Trump and Congressional leaders will have to find ways to offset disaster relief spending. yeah.
Multiple GOP leaders stressed during Tuesday’s meeting that “we need to recognize how we’re going to pay the bills,” people in the room said.
According to those in attendance, House Speaker Mike Johnson said of the upcoming Congress: “We have to control our spending.”
Trump and Johnson have both criticized California’s water management, and Johnson said lawmakers can put conditions on the state’s disaster relief. Several Republicans who won close House races in California have fallen back, including Rep. Young Kim, who represents a battleground district in Orange County.
“We can’t play politics with Americans’ livelihoods,” Kim said Thursday on X.
Still, on Friday, Trump laid out what he said would be a condition of aid to California, saying he wanted to require the state to identify voters and “free up the water.” .
“You want to have proof of citizenship. Ideally, there will be one-day voting. But I want voter ID first. And I want water released, They’re going to get a lot of help from the United States,” Trump told reporters as he landed in North Carolina.
Trump is seeking successful passage of his agenda on Capitol Hill as part of a reconciliation spending bill. He told reporters Tuesday that he believes demands from Democrats for Los Angeles-area firefighters will make that major bill “simpler.”
“They’re going to need a lot of money. Generally speaking, I think a lot of Democrats want help,” Trump said.
In an interview with Hannity, he claimed that while Democrats seek federal aid for California, Democrats also “don’t care” about North Carolina.
CNN’s Ella Nilsen, Alayna Treene, Hanna Park and Priscilla Alvarez contributed to this report.
This story has been updated with additional reporting.
