DHS Secretary Mullin Calls for States to Lead Disaster Response Instead of FEMA

Washington, DC — While surveying Hurricane Helene recovery in western North Carolina, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin argued that disaster response should be led by individual states, not by FEMA. Since Trump’s first days in office, he has actively dismantled our federal disaster response capabilities and tried to push the cost of recovery onto states and local communities. 

REMINDER: During Trump’s first week in office, while surveying Hurricane Helene damage in North Carolina, Trump said he wanted to eliminate FEMA and “let states take care of the tornadoes and the hurricanes and all of the other things that happen.”

Climate Power Senior Advisor Mia Logan issued the following statement: “Markwayne Mullin is taking a page out of Trump’s playbook by pushing the costs of responding to extreme weather disasters onto states and local communities who don’t have the resources they need to rebuild. Since day one, Trump has done everything in his power to gut disaster relief and force devastated states and communities to foot the bill. There’s no question that Trump and Mullin will continue to dismantle, delay, and deny disaster relief, and the people who have been hit hardest by extreme weather will be left to pay the price.” 

Since his first days in office, Trump has dismantled, delayed, and denied disaster relief—pushing the burden of recovery onto states and local communities: 

• Trump continues to undermine FEMA’s role in helping communities prepare for disasters. He recently shared his FY’27 budget proposal, which includes cutting $1.3 billion in FEMA funds for state and local emergency preparedness. 
• Trump has consistently politicized disaster aid. As of March 2026, it was three times harder for Democratic-led states to get Trump’s approval for federal disaster aid. Trump approved just 23% of disaster aid requests from Democratic-led states, compared to 89% for Republican-led states. 
• Trump has cut key FEMA staff, delaying the distribution of critical disaster funding. In 2025, Trump’s Department of Homeland Security drafted plans to cut FEMA’s workforce by more than 50%, resulting in the loss of more than 11,500 jobs.
• In the first year of his second term, Trump denied and delayed disaster aid for 18 states: Oregon, Maryland, Kansas, Missouri, West Virginia, Michigan, Kentucky, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Washington, Georgia, Arkansas, North Carolina, Illinois, Colorado, Vermont, Alaska, and Wisconsin.
• Under Trump, pending FEMA disaster applications are sitting longer on average than at any other point in the previous 37 years.
• Trump canceled FEMA’s $1 billion Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program and called for the immediate return of awarded funds, threatening hundreds of resiliency projects in communities nationwide.
• Trump stopped approving new allocations from FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation and Grant Program, becoming the first president in at least three decades to deny governors’ requests for funding that’s meant to protect people and property.
• Trump’s previous DHS Secretary, Kristi Noem, consistently mismanaged FEMA and fumbled the agency’s response to major disasters. As of January 2026, Noem’s requirement for her personal approval on all FEMA expenses exceeding $100,000 was creating a $17 billion bottleneck, causing months-long delays in delivering federal disaster funds to states. 
• Kristi Noem’s mismanagement caused aid delays in communities across the country – from Missouri, Texas, New Mexico, Alabama, Arkansas, to even North Carolina, where Hurricane Helene recovery continues. 
• During a deadly tornado outbreak last month, the Trump administration left search-and-rescue teams without a real-time tornado-tracking tool after failing to renew a $200,000 contract, hindering life-saving search-and-rescue efforts.