I live in hurricane alley and after a destructive storm like Katrina FEMA was there to try and help the Coast recover…..granted there is a pile of bureaucracy that one must navigate but nonetheless it was a godsend to our recovery.
The new president has hinted that the department could be on the chopping block.
The president went on his first official trip to California and North Carolina two states that is dealing with disasters like storms and wildfires….
In Asheville, North Carolina, Trump reiterated to reporters his plan to sign an executive order to overhaul—and maybe eliminate—the Federal Emergency Management Agency, reports USA Today. “FEMA has been a very big disappointment,” he said, per the AP. “It’s very bureaucratic. And it’s very slow. Other than that, we’re very happy with them.” Trump said he would prefer that states take care of their own disasters. “Whether it’s a Democrat or a Republican governor, you want to use your state to fix it and not waste time calling FEMA,” he said, per CNN.
“FEMA has turned out to be a disaster … I think we recommend that FEMA go away,” he said during a tour of North Carolina to see damage done by Hurricane Helene last year.
In case you are not aware of what FEMA actually does…..
According to the agency’s website, it’s mission is “helping people before, during and after disasters.” The agency says it employs more than 20,000 people and has 10 regional offices nationwide, allowing it to “leverage a tremendous capacity to coordinate within the federal government to make sure America is equipped to prepare for and respond to disasters.”
FEMA was officially created in 1979 through an executive order by President Jimmy Carter, and the agency says its history can be traced as far back as 1803. In 2003, FEMA became part of the Department of Homeland Security.
The agency aims to help people and communities understand and prepare for possible disaster risks, coordinates the federal response to disasters, and supports disaster recovery, according to its website. For more information about what specifically FEMA does and how it operates, you can visit the FEMA website.
Is eliminating FEMA part of the “Make America Great Again”?
If you have never had to deal with the aftermath of a real disaster then you have no damn idea what FEMA does or how it aids people in a crisis.
Like most of Trump’s ideas this is a piss poor one.
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
I saw some BBC reporters discussing this and they were saying that he intends to make disaster control and prevention a state responsibility. So the poorer states will suffer at the expense of richer states? That sounds about right for DT.
Best wishes, Pete.
Maybe they will offer grants to states but that does not mean they will spend it properly. chuq
FEMA should be dissolved and funds should be given to each state and let the states manage the delivery of assistnce to its residents like the Medicaid program is handled. The closer to the people the better served are the people and the distribution of assistance quicker and more accurate the assessments than federal so states can best deliver from an at home agency. The same thinking is in the mx to do the same with the federal Department of Education and that would eliminate another obstructive and wasteful delivery of services and funds as well.
I disagree for I do not see most states spending the money where needed there will always be something more important. I had dealings with FEMA after Katrina and I had no problem with their service……but then most people may not have had to deal with a massive disaster so they think it will save money…l.it will not. chuq
Your apprehensions are certainly legitimate. I think states that deal with natural disasters frequently have a particular sensitivity to needs and delay is avoided. This is certainly true for Florida which has to remain at peak assistance mobilzation every single year during hurricane season. Been through every one from 1954 t0 2014. Every town, city and county is always ready for possible disaster striking even several times a year. I’m in Greensboro, North Carolina now. The people in west North Carolina where the recent hurricane leveled the place like a WW II horror have been abandoned and ignored by FEMA. It’s only been the churches here that saved lives and cared and seemed the only folks that acted bringing spiritual and housing and food salvatiom but people in the western part are still homeless, helpless and freezing. FEMA’s neglect and/or incompetence there is absolutely criminal. Orange Man (Trump) was here the other day. Optimism is on the rise. I also did Katrina in Miami. Restoration had not been completed 10 years later.
I was at ground zero for Katrina and there are some areas that are still not right….MEMA was slower than FEMA so I did not have a lot of confidence in their help. chuq
Ha!!! You seriously think the states would spend the money wisely? Oh, please, don’t make me laugh. you have far more faith in that bunch of corrupt weasels sitting in most state capitals than I do. I vividly remember what they did with the nearly billion dollars we got here in Wisconsin from the tobacco companies that was, we were told, going to go into tobacco cessation programs, health care, etc. All of it, almost every dime of it, except for a few hundred thousand dollars worth of “you know you shouldn’t really smoke, okay?” ads, vanished without a trace into the state budget to cover up the deficit they’d dug themselves into.
shit canning FEMA can add billions to the treasure trove to be shared with the oligarchs….besides which, the individual states and the red cross and other agencies can do the work of FEMA….right?
Not to the scope that is needed these days. chuq
“Like most of Trump’s ideas this is a piss poor one.” Trump only has one idea: To make himself the Grand Emperor of the World, wherein all will bow to him and do exactly what he says and give him all the money. Let’s not forget that he is neither intelligent nor wise; that he has only one arrow in his quiver of ideas on how to treat people (bully them, insult them, demean them until they give him what he believes he so richly deserves). He has spent his entire life living off other people’s money; now he wants to live off everyone’s money. And somehow, despite his failings and sociopathic behavior, he has the people thinking he is smart and knows everything and should be bowed down to on all occasions. Were it not for other people’s money, he would have had a short, brutal career as a back alley mugger and rapist instead of a long career as a Main Street mugger and rapist. I believe he should be dragged out to the White House lawn and shot like a rabid dog, and the kissass minions he has installed in government should be exiled permanently from the United States. And, for good measure, the Republican Party should be declared as, and treated as, a terrorist organization dedicated to the overthrow of the government of the United States. Waitl! What? Newsflash! The Republican Party has come out as a terrorist organization dedicated to the overthrow of the constitutional government of the United States. And the Democrats say that’s okay.
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Trump and his minions remind me of Stalin and his purge and revenge. chuq