When Donald Trump decided to make his first official trip after being sworn back into office, the focus was on natural disasters. And his first stop was damage left by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina.
" I think, frankly, FEMA is not good," he said.
The president signed an executive order creating a council to review the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The council will examine FEMA's responses to natural disasters over the past four years and come up with ideas to improve the agency — though the president was clear about the conclusion he’s looking for.
" I think we're going to recommend that FEMA go away," he said in North Carolina.
Few states have as much at stake with any changes to FEMA than Florida. The agency has committed almost $20 billion in disaster funding to Florida since 2017. About 13 cents of every disaster dollar spent by FEMA in the past seven years has been in Florida.
READ MORE: US Rep. Kathy Castor stresses need for Congress to fund FEMA for hurricane recovery
"If you make FEMA go away, again, There's got to be something that's between the White House and the states," said David Paulison. He took over as FEMA Administrator two weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005.
"The White House is not going to manage it. They don't have the resources. They don't have the right people in place," Paulison said.
"You're hearing a lot of frustration on what people call red tape. I like to remind everybody: That's not FEMA's money. It's your money. And there's an accountability requirement."Former FEMA administrator Craig Fugate.
Paulison knows emergency management from the national level to the local level. He was the fire chief when Hurricane Andrew hit Miami-Dade County in 1992. Fire chiefs were the top emergency response officials back then. He still lives in Broward County today. He supports a presidential review of FEMA to ensure emergency management remains the focus.
" FEMA's not a first responder, and that's what people think. We don't go in and do things. We hire people to do things," he said.
Management is in FEMA’s name, after all. It's current structure to respond to natural disasters dates back to 1988's Stafford Act. That law is " really designed to take care of things like calling out the National Guard, picking up the debris — a lot of things that we saw in Florida during Hurricane Andrew," said former FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate.
Fugate led the agency for eight years during the Obama Administration, making him the longest serving FEMA boss since the 1990s. Prior to leading the federal emergency response, Fugate was the emergency director in Florida.
" Congress never intended for FEMA to supplant insurance," he said.
Speed and accountability
The criticism of FEMA hit a new crescendo this fall after Hurricane Helene ran through Florida and devastated parts of western North Carolina. Then Hurricane Milton hit Florida. Conspiracy theories and inaccurate information proliferated on social media about FEMA. Last year, Florida sued the agency’s leader after a whistleblower reported a supervisor told relief workers to skip houses in Central Florida with Trump signs.
"You're hearing a lot of frustration on what people call red tape," said Fugate. "I like to remind everybody: That's not FEMA's money. It's your money. And there's an accountability requirement that Congress requires to ensure that your tax dollars are going where it's supposed to go."
Striking that balance between getting cash into the hands of disaster victims and local governments while protecting against waste and fraud is difficult. There’s a formula for what disaster spending FEMA will pay — more accurately, reimburse — local governments for. It usually covers 75% of the cost. There’s also housing assistance, money to repair roads and bridges, money to fix public buildings and local parks.
"When you're dealing with these big disasters, state and local governments aren't budgeted for calling out the National Guard for three or four months. They're not budgeted to pick up all that debris. They're not budgeted for all the overtime," Fugate said.
FEMA is still making payments for Hurricane Irma. That storm hit Florida in 2017. It can take more than a decade for a disaster to disappear off FEMA’s financial statements.
Finding the balance between speed and accountability "is tough," admitted Paulison. "You want to get the money out quickly. And sometimes we pay for stuff we shouldn't pay for. Then we have to go back and get that money back."
Elevate FEMA
FEMA was created by an executive order from Pres. Jimmy Carter in 1979. It had two purposes — emergency management and civil defense. It was an independent agency. In 1996, it was made a presidential cabinet-level position.
Then the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks led to an overhaul of the nation's emergency management structure. FEMA was placed in the newly-created Department of Homeland Security, where it resides today.
"We can make FEMA faster and smarter in both response and coordination, but none of this is going to happen as long as it stays within Homeland."Rep. Jared Moskowitz.
"Anyone who thinks that FEMA is going to be fixed within the Department of Homeland doesn't understand how big the bureaucracy of Homeland has become," said Rep. Jared Moskowitz. "It is just gigantic."
Moskowitz is a Democratic from western Broward County who served as Florida’s emergency manager during Gov. Ron DeSantis’ first term.
FEMA is one of more than a dozen agencies in the Department of Homeland Security. Among other duties, DHS is also responsible for immigration enforcement, airport security, cybersecurity and the Secret Service. The department’s budget is over $100 billion.
Sec. of Homeland Security Kristi Noem told CNN in early February, "Yes. Get rid of FEMA as it exists today."
For his part, Moskowitz supports Trump creating a presidential commission to examine FEMA. He introduced a bill in the last Congress to return FEMA to a presidential cabinet-level department.
"We can make FEMA faster and smarter in both response and coordination, but none of this is going to happen as long as it stays within Homeland," said Moskowitz.
Trump’s FEMA council review is due in six months. The hurricane season begins June 1.
