The Trump administration's plan to fundamentally reshape the Federal Emergency Management Agency would shift most emergency response duties away from federal control to states and local governments, a move that experts say will leave the nation unprepared for accelerating climate disasters.
A panel appointed by Trump and led by Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth released its long-awaited recommendations this week. The 150-page report declares it is "time to close the chapter on Fema" and proposes a doctrine where disaster response is "locally executed, state or tribally managed, and federally supported."
The council's plan would raise the threshold for disaster declarations that unlock federal aid, shift evacuation and emergency shelter responsibilities to localities, and cap federal payouts to homeowners and renters. It also proposes replacing Fema's current funding model with lump-sum payments calculated within 30 days based on projected damages.
Yet the report largely ignores the scale of the crisis it claims to address. The word "climate" appears just once in the 74-page document, despite the fact that weather and climate disasters caused more than $101 billion in damage across the United States in the first half of 2025 alone.
"The Fema review council completely missed the moment we are in right now," said Shana Udvardy, senior climate resilience policy analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists. She added that the administration had already "done its best to break Fema down."
The timing of the proposal comes as Fema already faces severe capacity constraints. Trump cut hundreds of millions in national preparedness funding in 2025 and the agency lost roughly a third of its full-time staff through firings, retirements, and resignations. Leadership positions remain vacant, and the shrunken workforce is stretched thin handling existing demands.
Small municipalities lack the infrastructure and expertise to absorb these new responsibilities. Many don't have dedicated emergency management departments and rely heavily on federal resources and expertise during crises. "This is going to be really a challenging proposition for them," said Dr. Andrew Rumbach, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute.
The council also recommends pushing the National Flood Insurance Program, a federally subsidized program serving high-risk areas, toward greater private sector participation. The program currently carries over $20 billion in debt. Private insurance firms saw immediate market interest, with Neptune Flood's stock surging 22 percent after the recommendations were released.
Other proposals include reducing federal environmental and historical reviews, audits, and inspections, and increasing reliance on volunteer and faith-based organizations. The council emphasized "individual responsibility" for disaster preparedness, writing that "it is the responsibility of every American to embrace their individual responsibility to lessen this burden by being prepared for disasters."
The committee conducted what it described as extensive public outreach, including a nationwide survey of local agencies and listening sessions in 13 cities. However, these meetings were held behind closed doors with limited public documentation, and few minority voices participated despite the fact that low-income and marginalized communities bear a disproportionate burden when disasters strike.
Implementation of the plan faces a significant hurdle: about half of the 150 recommendations would require legislative action, while four require new policies or regulations. Only one recommendation, reducing administrative costs, could be completed through executive order.
Advocates who track disaster recovery are skeptical the changes will help. Rafael Lemaitre, a former director of public affairs at Fema and advisory council member for the advocacy group Sabotaging Our Safety, said the administration's approach is fundamentally flawed. "You cannot cut your way to a capable disaster response agency," he said.
Some officials in the administration have recently softened the rhetoric about eliminating Fema entirely, with Mullin attempting to rehire some workers and fund certain lapsed programs since his confirmation in March. But the council's recommendations suggest the administration's core strategy remains unchanged: shrink the federal footprint and push responsibility downward.
Author James Rodriguez: "The administration is doubling down on a recipe for chaos during the most costly decade for American disasters on record."
Comments