Trump FEMA Council Seeks Local Disaster Response
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- FEMA Review Council released a final report urging to “close the chapter on FEMA” and recommending that disaster response be locally executed, state or tribally managed, and federally supported.
- Markwayne Mullin co‑headed the 12‑member council with Pete Hegseth and presented 150 recommended actions aimed at tightening FEMA’s mission and improving efficiency and transparency.
- Shana Udvardy of the Union of Concerned Scientists warned the council “missed the moment” of the climate crisis, saying the administration has already “done its best to break FEMA down”.
- Andrew Rumbach of the Urban Institute cautioned that many small state and local governments lack dedicated emergency management departments, making the shift away from federal support a “challenging proposition”.
Why it matters: State and tribal emergency agencies will be tasked with disaster response while federal support is trimmed, leaving them to implement 150 new reforms without adequate resources, which could delay recovery after climate‑driven events.
