The U.S. reckon ahorrific hurricane season , unprecedented wildfires , and apowerful derechothis twelvemonth alone . A record - breaking 16 climate disaster caused at least$1 billion in damageeach . And yet the Federal Emergency Management Agency is pursuing a plan that would abridge disaster help to certain states .
On Monday , Trump ’s FEMAproposedsubstantial changes to the standards that the means uses to review governors ’ request for “ major cataclysm ” attention under the Public Assistance Program . If passed , officials would factor out state ’ “ financial capacity”—or wealth — when deciding whether or not to send over financing . This means that moneyed states would have to march that climate tragedy have caused much more damage to restrict for aid .
FEMA claims the changes will let it “ more accurately gauge ” whether or not hand brake imagination are necessary , and allow Union official to focus their attention on “ catastrophic disasters . ” It also claims the more rigorous banner will encourage states to create their own plans to handle disaster response , rather than simply relying on the FRS .
An aerial view shows a home that was destroyed by Hurricane Laura on 13 April 2025 in Cameron, Louisiana.Photo: Stringer/AFP (Getty Images)
But in practice , the reduce rule would make it much more difficult for states to stipulate for financial assistance to manage with the fallout of storm , flood , and fire , while transfer the responsibility from the federal government to help . In fact , the agency say that under the new rule , 159 of the of the 585 disasters for which it approve backing between 2008 to 2017 would n’t qualify for financing . FEMA calculate that the new standards would mean it spends $ 270 million less per year , leave struggling land saving to pick up the slackness . By refusing to pass the funds that it could simplyprint out through the Federal Reserve , the federal governance could force state officials to dim into other budget and substantially deadening catastrophe reply . It could also be a immense drag for California and other wealthier states , which tend to be disconsolate but still need help when it comes to catastrophe .
The suggest change could n’t be coming at a bad time for commonwealth , which have seen dramatic cuts to their budget amid the economic wreck trip by the covid-19 pandemic . Every exclusive stateis working with a small budget than it had before the spread of the coronavirus due to a drop in tax revenue that give to state program .
For now , the FEMA proposal is just that , a marriage proposal . A compulsory public scuttlebutt period will be open until February , and the authority is sure to becharm heat from state functionary like those fromColorado , OregonandMichigan , who are already urging FEMA assume more of the costs of debris removal after disaster .
Do n’t get me untimely , guarantee that state representation have emergency program at the ready for catastrophe is a undecomposed idea . FEMA could incentivize officials to get those plans in order by making have emergency fundingcontingent on doing so . But it seems as disasters get bad and more frequent amid the climate crisis , we should be making more federal funding useable to deal with them , not less .
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