{"id":4168,"date":"2025-07-12T11:57:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-12T11:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/4168\/"},"modified":"2025-07-12T11:57:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-12T11:57:11","slug":"texas-flood-aftermath-shows-how-trump-is-breaking-fema","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/4168\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Flood Aftermath Shows How Trump Is Breaking FEMA"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tFEMA<\/a>\u2019s response to the deadly flooding<\/a> in Texas over the Fourth of July weekend has been less than ideal, according to multiple reports.<\/p>\n

\n\tSources inside the Federal Emergency Management Agency have told CNN<\/a> that the agency\u2019s handling of the recovery effort was hampered by spending roadblocks implemented by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem<\/a>. The New York Times has simultaneously reported<\/a> that FEMA has been slow to activate search-and-rescue efforts, citing half a dozen current and former FEMA officials and disaster experts.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe CNN report has particularly rankled the Trump administration, which last month implemented a rule<\/a> at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) requiring Noem to sign off on every agency contract or grant worth over $100,000. FEMA warned at the time that such a rule could hamper their ability to respond to disasters efficiently, given that the mass mobilizations of first responders can quickly amount to millions if not billions in spending.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe were operating under a clear set of guidance: Lean forward, be prepared, anticipate what the state needs, and be ready to deliver it,\u201d a FEMA official told CNN. \u201cThat is not as clear of an intent for us at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs local officials moved to respond to the devastating floods, which have killed at least 120 people, potential support assets under FEMA control were unable to deploy due to funding approval delays. Multiple sources told CNN that Noem did not release the funding to deploy FEMA Urban Search and Rescue teams until over 72 hours after the floods began on Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tNoem today laughed off<\/a> the reporting, calling it \u201cabsolutely trash\u201d during an interview on Fox News. DHS responded to the report in a lengthy statement<\/a> on Wednesday, writing that the report was \u201ca FAKE NEWS LIE from CNN.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tNoem \u201cis leading a historic, first-of-its-kind approach to disaster funding: putting states first by providing upfront recovery support \u2014 moving money faster than ever and jump starting recovery. This is a breakthrough in how FEMA supports state-led disaster recovery,\u201d the statement, posted to social media, added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

\n\tThe department claimed that Noem had \u201cdeployed to Texas, working day and night to approve every possible need that search and rescue workers had,\u201d while \u201cthese \u2018journalists\u2019 slept comfortably in D.C.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAs DHS touts FEMA\u2019s response to the disaster in Texas, the agency\u2019s future remains in limbo. The president and his allies seemingly remain committed to dismantling it entirely.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Wednesday, as search-and-recovery efforts continued in central Texas with FEMA involvement, Noem said that<\/a> \u201cthis entire agency needs to be eliminated as it exists today, and remade into a responsive agency.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFederal emergency management should be state and locally led, rather than how it has operated for decades,\u201d Noem added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe administration has been attempting to wind down FEMA since Donald Trump took office, but it has been unable to find a workaround to the reality that natural disasters don\u2019t put themselves on pause to accommodate political scheming. Trump determined last month<\/a> that he would allow FEMA to remain active until the end of hurricane season before beginning its phaseout. The move came after warnings from meteorologists and other experts that the 2025 hurricane season may be more intense<\/a> than usual.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAreas attempting to recover from natural disasters in the first months of the Trump administration have felt the sting of rejection and funding delays. In May, the administration denied North Carolina\u2019s request<\/a> for FEMA to honor a Biden-era commitment to pay for 100 percent of debris removal costs in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. Conservative-led states like Arkansas<\/a> and Missouri<\/a> have also had trouble securing disaster relief funding in a timely manner.<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to a June report from News 6 Orlando<\/a>, Lake Helen \u2014 a Florida town ravaged by multiple hurricanes including Ian, Nicole, and Milton \u2014 is struggling under a $2 million pile of expenses that have not been reimbursed by FEMA, despite pending approval requests to the agency.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Trump administration, meanwhile, seems to want nothing to do with helping states recovery from natural disasters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FEMA\u2019s response to the deadly flooding in Texas over the Fourth of July weekend has been less than…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4169,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,4800,451,4801,3,4802,452,453],"class_list":{"0":"post-4168","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking-news","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-fema","11":"tag-headlines","12":"tag-kristi-noem","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-texas-flood","15":"tag-top-stories","16":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}