ICYMI: Grist: Trump wants to shutter FEMA. Will Markwayne Mullin get it done?

One senior FEMA official told Grist: “[Mullin’s] comments show he has just as little of an understanding of FEMA as Noem did.”

Washington, DC – Grist reported that under Trump’s new Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, FEMA is in disarray ahead of hurricane season because of Trump’s massive cuts to the agency. Since his first week in office, Trump has gutted FEMA, denied aid, and weakened our disaster response capabilities. Now, FEMA officials and disaster response experts are saying that the agency may not be prepared for this summer’s hurricane season. 

Grist: Trump wants to shutter FEMA. Will Markwayne Mullin get it done?

The first year of the Trump administration almost destroyed the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Elon Musk’s purge of the federal civil service was just one of many blows to FEMA. Former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem instituted a freeze on almost all disaster recovery and response spending, paralyzing the agency’s core function. This held up billions of dollars for communities around the country, delayed disaster response during catastrophic events like the July 4 floods in Central Texas, and all but ended the agency’s efforts to prepare for future disasters. The agency also slow-walked and even denied a large share of aid requests, especially from Democrat-controlled states. Earlier this year, leaked memos showed that the Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, planned to slash FEMA’s on-the-ground response staffing by around half. (FEMA is one of multiple agencies within DHS.)

President Trump’s firing of Noem last month — which came after a series of controversies regarding her handling of immigration enforcement, improper personal spending, and allegations that she misled Congress — has stirred hopes that FEMA might regain its footing. Noem’s replacement, former Oklahoma senator Markwayne Mullin, has vowed to end her spending freeze, which he dismissed as “micromanaging.” Mullin has also said he will select a permanent administrator to lead FEMA, something Noem never did. He already appears to have fired many of Noem’s top deputies, according to FEMA employees who requested anonymity because they aren’t authorized to speak with the media. 

Yet FEMA officials and disaster response experts say they are still unsure if Mullin can restore the agency to a pre-Noem level of functionality — if that is even his goal. They’re also concerned that the agency’s workforce may not be prepared for the fast-approaching hurricane season. Morale remains low, and many key agency functions are still in limbo.

“It’s like we are collectively waiting for the other shoe to drop,” said one regional FEMA official who requested anonymity to avoid retaliation from agency leaders.

Even though Mullin has vowed to end some of Noem’s policies, FEMA’s operations have not yet changed all that much, according to officials who spoke to Grist. Some disaster reconstruction payments to cities and states have been unfrozen, but many expenses still require high-level approval from Karen Evans, Noem’s handpicked interim administrator. (Evans will lead the agency until Mullin’s pick is approved by the senate.) The agency’s programs that help prepare U.S. infrastructure for future disasters are still inactive; FEMA has not offered new long-term infrastructure aid money from one major program in about a year, and it only gave up its plan to eliminate another resilience program last month after a court order.

Essential measures such as the National Flood Insurance Program, which provides subsidized flood coverage to some 5 million households, have been undermined. The program uses a rating system to provide insurance discounts to the cities that are most proactive about flood protection, but the contract with the company that manages the rating system lapsed several weeks ago. The discount program has since been suspended, which means no one from the federal government is monitoring if U.S. cities and counties are rebuilding in floodplains and mitigating flood damage.

Though current and former FEMA officials have expressed hope that Mullin will undo some of Noem’s damage, they also expect a lasting shift to a more balkanized emergency response policy. President Trump has long maintained that states should shoulder more of the burden of preparing for and responding to disasters. Mullin appeared to endorse this diminished role for the federal agency during his recent visit to North Carolina, saying that “we shouldn’t look at FEMA as being a first responder, but … as supporting the first responders you already have.”

“The state is much more equipped,” he continued, “but we can be there to get them past the first heavy lift.”

For some FEMA employees, the comments were an unwelcome sign.

“His comments show he has just as little of an understanding of FEMA as Noem did,” said one senior FEMA official. As this official saw it, Mullin’s statements appeared to indicate that he didn’t understand how much most states rely on federal emergency managers right now. (Neither FEMA nor DHS responded to requests for comment.)