From CNN: When billions in emergency funds were stalled, the Trump administration sped FEMA money to some GOP-led states

“At a time when critical funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency has slowed to a crawl, some states — with Republican governors — have been luckier than others in prying money loose.

The Trump administration directed FEMA to prioritize payments to GOP-led Missouri and Virginia in recent weeks, while some other states’ requests weren’t being filled, according to multiple sources and internal communications obtained by CNN.

The situation has raised concerns at FEMA that the White House is playing politics with critical emergency management funds. President Donald Trump and his allies have criticized FEMA for months as partisan, ineffective and unnecessary. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has said she will “eliminate FEMA” altogether.”

From WUSF: FEMA cuts make landfall weeks before Florida’s hurricane season begins.

“A FEMA program that provides the most hurricane aid to Florida – nearly $300 million – has been slashed by the Trump administration. The hurricane season begins June 1.”

From Wired: FEMA Isn’t Ready for Disaster Season, Workers Say. Instability, cuts, and a looming sense of dread have FEMA employees unsure the agency is ready for hurricanes, fires, and floods. “We are being set up for a really, really bad situation,” says one.

“Less than two months before the official start of hurricane season, the nation’s primary disaster-response agency faces an uncertain future. Employees working across the Federal Emergency Management Agency tell WIRED that a rapid erosion of tools, external partnerships, and practices—as well as the looming threat of staffing cuts and the exodus of senior staff—is bad news for the country as it heads into the summer, even if the agency reaches the season somewhat intact. FEMA staffers who spoke to WIRED were granted anonymity because they aren’t permitted to speak to the press.

The agency hasn’t seen “huge sweeping changes yet, but it doesn’t take much to completely screw a [disaster] response up,” one employee says. “We are being set up for a really, really bad situation.”

From Goerning.com: FEMA:The Federal Agency We Don’t Like Until We Need It
It’s appealing to say that disaster relief should be left to states and localities. The less appealing reality is that they aren’t up to the job.

“If there’s any one enduring truth about federalism, however, it’s that it refuses to be neat. Nowhere has that been truer than in preparing and responding to disasters.”

From E&ENews: White House considers closing FEMA regional offices, senators say. New England’s 12 senators warned the Trump administration against consolidating the 10 offices.

White House considers closing FEMA regional offices, senators say

From The Hill: Get rid of FEMA? That would be a disaster

“The trends that brought about the expanded federal disaster role in the 1960s and 1970s have only been exacerbated in the intervening years. Development in risky areas, such as the Florida coastlines, has continued more or less unabated. Katrina, as is now clear, heralded the beginning of two decades of increasingly catastrophic natural disasters.

All of this has put increasing pressure on a federal disaster system that is chronically understaffed and relies on year-to-year funding from Congress that has become partisan on these issues in a way that was simply not the case in the 1970s.”

From Industrial Cyber: House Democrats urge DHS secretary to halt reported plan to dismantle FEMA

“In a letter to Noem, Bennie G. Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi and ranking member of the Committee on Homeland Security; Rick Larsen, a Democrat from Washington and Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Ranking Member; Rosa DeLauro, a Democrat from Connecticut and Appropriations Ranking Committee Member; Maxine Waters, a Democrat from California and Financial Services Ranking Committee Member; and Zoe Lofgren, another Democrat from California and Science, Space and Technology Committee member wrote that “FEMA is the only Federal agency with the sole responsibility for helping communities across the country before, during, and after disasters.”

“The members mentioned their alarm about the mounting reports of FEMA being dismantled and the ongoing steps the agency is taking to fire employees and take funding from disaster recovery and preparedness grants that improve communities across the nation.”

From HSToday: Emergency Management Expert Pens Children’s Book to Help Kids Navigate Disaster Recovery

From the WashPost: States caught unprepared for Trump’s threats to FEMA

FEMA is canceling plans to award states grants to help prepare against future disasters. Federal funds given to states after disasters strike could also be in jeopardy.

From Grist: FEMA moves to end one of its biggest disaster adaptation programs. In an internal FEMA memorandum obtained by Grist, the Trump administration announced its plans to dismantle the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program.