WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said his administration plans to phase out the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) after the 2025 hurricane season, offering the clearest timeline to date for his effort to dismantle the disaster relief agency and shift responsibility to states.
Speaking during a June 10 Oval Office briefing, Trump outlined the most definitive timeline yet for transitioning federal disaster responsibilities to individual states.
“We want to wean off of FEMA, and we want to bring it down to the state level,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “A governor should be able to handle it, and frankly, if they can’t handle it, the aftermath, then maybe they shouldn’t be governor.”
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Trump signals funding shift away from FEMA
Trump said the federal government will begin reducing the amount of disaster recovery aid distributed through FEMA, according to CNN. Instead, funding will come directly from the president’s office. The announcement came as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasted an especially intense and potentially deadly hurricane season, which officially ends on November 30.
For months, Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose department oversees FEMA, have publicly criticized the agency. Noem reiterated those critiques Tuesday, calling FEMA “fundamentally” broken.
“We all know from the past that FEMA has failed thousands if not millions of people, and President Trump does not want to see that continue into the future,” Noem said.She added that while FEMA is supporting preparedness for the 2025 hurricane season, the administration is encouraging states to form mutual aid agreements and rely on one another.
FEMA Review Council to propose sweeping changes
Noem and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are co-chairing the newly formed FEMA Review Council. The council is expected to deliver recommendations in the coming months that would significantly reduce FEMA’s size and reshape its mission.
Plans to eliminate FEMA have drawn criticism from emergency management officials, many of whom say most states lack the capacity to respond to large-scale disasters without federal support.
“This is a complete misunderstanding of the role of the federal government in emergency management and disaster response and recovery,” a former FEMA leader told CNN. “It is clear from the president’s remarks that their plan is to limp through hurricane season and then dismantle the agency.”
FEMA faces internal challenges amid hurricane season
FEMA has entered the 2025 hurricane season understaffed and under pressure. At least 10% of its workforce has departed since January, and projections show that by year’s end, the agency may shrink from 26,000 to roughly 18,000 employees, according to CNN.
To address immediate needs, Noem reopened FEMA training facilities and extended contracts for disaster-response staff. Still, internal challenges continue.
In May, Noem appointed David Richardson, a former Marine and DHS official, to lead FEMA. He has brought in several homeland security personnel to leadership roles, moving seasoned FEMA staff into secondary positions.
While Richardson initially said FEMA would release an updated disaster response plan, he told staff last week that the agency would instead operate under 2024’s guidelines to avoid preempting the FEMA Review Council’s decisions.
Delays in disaster declarations raise concerns
Recent reports suggest growing communication issues between FEMA and the White House. In several recent cases, Trump approved disaster declarations, but FEMA did not receive timely notice, delaying aid delivery to affected communities.
Trump’s long-term plans for disaster response remain unclear, but the administration has signaled it may raise the bar for states seeking federal disaster assistance.
“The FEMA thing has not been a very successful experiment,” Trump said. “It’s extremely expensive, and again, when you have a tornado or a hurricane or you have a problem of any kind in a state, that’s what you have governors for. They’re supposed to fix those problems.”
