100 Dizzying Days for FEMA

A summary of the Trump Administration 2.0's changes to the federal emergency management system

The first 100 days of the Trump presidency have been a whirlwind for those of us in the world of disaster management, climate change adaptation, and community resilience. Although many of the administration’s plans were telegraphed in Project 2025, the speed of change has caught many of us by surprise - which is undoubtedly part of the strategy.

If you are like me, keeping up with the news has been a challenge. I thought it would be helpful to list and summarize key decisions, milestones and tea leaves in a single post.

Update (5/8/2025)

Fitting with the theme of ‘dizzying,’ two huge pieces of FEMA news dropped the day after publishing this blog:

• The acting FEMA Administrator, Cameron Hamilton, was unexpectedly fired. The news came one day after Hamilton testified to Congress that dismantling FEMA was ‘not in the best interest of the American people.’

• The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure released a discussion draft of legislation to significantly reform FEMA. The bipartisan legislative language comes after several months of conversations between the T&I committee and expert stakeholders (including the Urban Institute) on how to amend the Stafford Act to better support households and communities. Stay tuned for more substantive analysis of that draft legislation.

The Campaign

• President Trump’s disdain for FEMA dates back at least as far as the 2024 campaign, when he repeatedly attacked the agency over its response to Hurricane Helene and may go as far back as Hurricane Maria and the negative coverage he received during a trip to Puerto Rico and for the administration’s handling of that disaster.

• In 2024 there was a mini-scandal over a story about a FEMA employee directing a survivor assistance team to avoid homes with Trump campaign signs after several heated confrontations with residents - a decision that got the employee fired. The incident became a mainstay in candidate Trump’s stump speech and narratives about the Biden administration’s unfair treatment of Trump supporters.

Questions about FEMA’s Future

• Soon after taking office, President Trump visited communities impacted by Hurricane Helene to check-in on early recovery efforts. During that visit he suggested that he would be signing an executive order “fundamentally reforming…or maybe getting rid” of FEMA. His criticism centered on the high cost and bureaucratic nature of the agency, and that state governments could do a more effective job.

• The same week (January 24, 2025) President Trump signed an executive order (14180) that created a FEMA Review Council to advise the president on the ‘existing ability of FEMA to capably and impartially address disasters” and to advise the president on needed changes. The order mentions the incident of relief workers avoiding homes with Trump campaign signs.

• In March of 2025, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem stated that “we’re going to eliminate FEMA” during a White House Cabinet meeting.

• On March 19th, 2025 the President signed another executive order titled “Achieving Efficiency Through State and Local Preparedness” that describes a policy that “State and local governments and individuals play a more active and significant role in national resilience and preparedness” and ordered the publication of a national resilience strategy. Perhaps most importantly the order directs administration staff to make recommendations to “reformulate the process and metrics for Federal responsibility” and to “move away from an all-hazards approach.”

• In April of 2025, President Trump appointed the first members of the FEMA Review Council, which is expected to deliver its recommendations ‘within 180 days of the date of [its] first public meeting.’

• FEMA has canceled numerous events and trainings that typically support the field, like the National Fire Academy and the Higher Education conference.

• The Trump Administration has also disbanded several key advisory councils that guide FEMA’s work, despite them being established in law. They include the National Advisory Council, the Technical Mapping Advisory Council, and the National Dam Safety Review Board.

• Most important, a large number of FEMA staff were fired, laid off, or opted for early retirement. It is unclear how many staff will ultimately be let go, but it seems clear that parts of FEMA that focus on issues like climate change and resiliency are particularly hard-hit by the downsizing.

• On a related note, President Trump has not yet nominated a new FEMA administrator, leaving decisions in the hands of Acting Administrator Cameron Hamilton - who does not have a significant disaster management experience.

Major Changes to Disaster Declarations and Federal Cost Share

• In a memorandum to the Office of Management and Budget, Acting Administrator Cameron Hamilton describes significant changes to the way that the President and FEMA would determine whether to issue a Presidential Disaster Declaration, quadrupling the key threshold for making public assistance dollars available. The changes would effectively reduce the number of disaster declarations by over 70% and shift ~10% of public assistance spending onto state, local, tribal and territorial (SLTT) governments.

• In the same memorandum, Hamilton also suggests that FEMA would generally keep federal cost share for public assistance at the Congressionally mandated minimum of 75%, potentially shifting billions of dollars more onto the budget sheets of SLTT governments.

• This memorandum was sent around the same time as FEMA began denying disaster declarations for states like Arkansas and Washington, consistent with the changes described.

Changes in Delivery of Individual Assistance

• In another memorandum, Acting Administrator Hamilton describes significant shifts the way that FEMA would support SLTT governments in emergency response. Most notably is the ending of unaccompanied door-to-door visits by FEMA staff to impacted households to help them access benefits.

• In that same memorandum Hamilton describes how FEMA would encourage survivors to “utilize all existing resources from within a community to support those displaced before approving non-financial assistance for displacement,” which alludes to changes in the availability of programs like the Direct Lease Program - which we might already be seeing in places like Los Angeles after the wildfires.

Ending of Hazard Mitigation Programs

One of the key themes of the Trump Administration’s approach to FEMA has been a retreat from hazard mitigation programs. In the first 100 days the Administration has:

• Ended the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, the largest source of pre-disaster mitigation funding. The order describes BRIC - which was established by President Trump in his first term - as a ‘wasteful’ and ‘politicized’ effort. The move leaves $3.3 billion of BRIC funding in jeopardy, with states like California, Utah and Louisiana losing hundreds of millions of dollars in funding.

• Removed the Notice of Funding Opportunity for the Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) program for 2025-2026, another major source of funding.

• Has quietly stopped approving new allocations of funding from the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP), a major source of mitigation funds for communities that have experienced a presidentially declared disaster.

• In another indication that FEMA is retreating from its work on hazard mitigation, the agency has withdrawn its participation in the International Code Council (ICC) update process, where it provided resources and expertise to help develop building codes that would better protect against floods, storms and other natural hazards [thanks David Bonowitz for the suggestion].

Rollback of Climate-Related Efforts

Consistent with the Administration’s overall antipathy towards climate action, FEMA has also made several changes to its everyday work:

• In February Secretary Noem directed all DHS leaders to “eliminate all climate change activities and the use of climate change terminology…to the fullest extent allowed by law.”

• One consequence of that order is that FEMA has stopped the delivery of trainings and certifications related to climate change.

• FEMA has stopped implementing the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard, which would have ensured that agency-funded construction projects were built to withstand future climate conditions.

Keep in mind these are just changes to FEMA; our disaster management system - especially as it relates to hazard mitigation, disaster recovery, and climate adaptation - extends into dozens of federal agencies and programs that are also being disrupted or transformed in real time.

What news did I miss? Please send me snippets and I’ll be happy to update my post.