From Politico: Trump gets his chance to upend FEMA

“Long-anticipated recommendations to revamp the disaster agency were approved Thursday. Now, President Donald Trump has to make a decision.

Long-anticipated recommendations to revamp the disaster agency were approved Thursday. Now, President Donald Trump has to make a decision.

The most-sweeping proposal would end the decades-old system used to determine if states are eligible to receive billions of dollars in disaster aid. Instead of estimating monetary damages from catastrophes like hurricanes to decide whether aid is warranted, the agency would look at the atmospheric conditions of an event, such as wind speed or flood depth, before releasing aid.

That would help the agency meet one of Trump’s biggest complaints about FEMA — that it’s too slow to deliver money. The report says payments to states would occur within 30 days of a flood, storm, wildfire or other disaster.”