President Donald Trump has backtracked on the Federal Emergency Management Agency following the disastrous flash floods in Texas, saying Friday during a visit to the disaster zone that “we have some good people running FEMA” thanks to his hires, reported The New York Times.
“It’s about time, right? We get some good ones. They failed us in North Carolina, but when we got in on Jan. 20, they fixed it up in no time.”
Trump in mid-June said he planned to phase out FEMA after this year’s hurricane season.
“We want to wean off of FEMA, and we want to bring it down to the state level,” Trump told reporters during a briefing in the Oval Office. He later said, “A governor should be able to handle it. And, frankly, if they can’t handle it, the aftermath, then maybe they shouldn’t be governor.”
He also said the federal government would start distributing less federal aid for disaster recovery.
Rhetoric from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on FEMA also seems to be shifting more toward reform.
In March, Noem, whose department includes the agency, said, “We’re going to eliminate FEMA.”
This week, she said the entire agency “needs to be eliminated as it exists today and remade into a responsive agency.”
Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, told reporters Friday, “We want FEMA to work well.
“And, you know, the president is going to continue to be asking tough questions from all of his agencies.”
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for DHS, on Friday told The Hill that changes are coming to FEMA.
“It’s not a secret that under Secretary Noem and acting Administrator [David] Richardson, FEMA, as it is today, will no longer exist,” she said.
“Federal Emergency Management will shift from bloated, D.C.-centric dead weight to a lean, deployable disaster force that empowers state actors to provide relief for their citizens. The old processes are being replaced because they failed Americans in real emergencies for decades,” she added.
“Under Secretary Noem’s leadership, the FEMA Review Council is developing a comprehensive plan for necessary change.”
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