WHERE’S WHATLEY? Weeks from Hurricane Season, Trump’s FEMA Review Council Recommends Weakening Disaster Response

Raleigh, NC – Just weeks from hurricane season, Trump’s FEMA Review Council released its recommendations to overhaul the agency – further gutting our federal disaster response and pushing the costs of recovery onto states and local communities. Since taking office, Trump has systematically slashed disaster preparedness and response. Michael Whatley, the GOP Senate Candidate for North Carolina, sits on the FEMA Review Council, but these recommendations will leave North Carolina communities even more vulnerable to extreme weather and make recovery more expensive. 

Climate Power North Carolina State Director Terryn Hall issued the following statement: “Michael Whatley was supposedly Trump’s trusted “Recovery Czar”, but the results of this Review Council show that their plan is for North Carolina to be left to fend for itself when hurricane season comes. The Trump administration has already gutted our disaster response capabilities, and these recommendations will only make things worse. We cannot afford to have the same delays and denials of disaster relief when the next emergency comes.”

Trump’s FEMA Review Council’s recommendations will further gut disaster response and make it harder and more expensive for communities to recover: 

• The Council’s recommendations will push the financial and administrative burden of disaster recovery onto states and local communities, making it more expensive for people to rebuild.
  
• The Council recommended encouraging private insurance companies to take over more flood insurance policies from the National Flood Insurance Program – making it more difficult for people to get coverage, pushing people into potentially more expensive policies, and further exacerbating the homeowners insurance crisis.

• On top of that, Trump’s tariffs were expected to slow down disaster recovery efforts and make them more expensive. The National Association of Home Builders estimated a cost increase of $10,900 per home due to tariffs on construction materials.
  
• Trump has already undermined FEMA’s role in helping communities prepare for disasters. Trump’s FY’27 budget proposal included 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 taken longer to approve or deny federal disaster aid than previous administrations, especially for states that did not vote for him. Trump has taken an average of 63 days to make decisions about Democratic states’ disaster assistance requests.
  
• 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%, which would have resulted in the loss of more than 11,500 jobs.
  
• Trump has already been pushing the cost of recovery onto states. 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 have sat longer on average than at any other point in the previous 37 years.
• 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.

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