The Trump Administration Keeps Denying Disaster Preparedness Aid to States
(Bloomberg) — The Trump administration is increasingly skipping a form of federal disaster aid that helps states better prepare for future storms, flooding and wildfires.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency rejected requests for such resiliency money, known as Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funding, for Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri and Oklahoma last week, part of a trend that started this spring.
These denials are one way the administration is trying to cut costs and narrow the scope of FEMA, the nation’s primary agency for disaster work that sits under the Department of Homeland Security.
The administration is weighing the approval of hazard mitigation funding “with states’ ability to execute those funds,” said White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson. “To date, we are observing large unobligated balances across the board,” she added.
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump reiterated his plan to eliminate the agency, possibly as soon as the end of hurricane season in late fall. “We’re going to do it much differently,” he said in the Oval Office. Standing near Trump, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said: “You’ve been very clear you want to see FEMA eliminated as it exists today. So I’m preparing all these governors that they will have more control over the decisions on how they respond to their communities so that they can help it happen faster.”
The federal hazard mitigation money is used for flood buyouts of homes and constructing tornado safe rooms. Not receiving it “would mean that there would be fewer funds available for Missouri communities to fund such projects,” said Mike O’Connell, communications director for the Missouri Department of Public Safety.
A new tack on disaster preparedness
The requests for hazard mitigation funds were part of the states’ applications for major disaster declarations, a status that comes with federal assistance. Missouri experienced back-to-back severe storms in mid- and late March. That same month, Iowa experienced a severe winter storm, while Mississippi was hit by strong storms and Oklahoma was affected by straight-line winds and wildfires. In each case, the destruction from the disasters overwhelmed local and state responses, prompting Republican Governors Kim Reynolds of Iowa, Tate Reeves of Mississippi, Mike Kehoe of Missouri and Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma to seek federal assistance.
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