President Donald Trump is preparing to reshape the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has been on the frontlines of responding to recent wildfires in California and last year's hurricane in North Carolina.
He spoke at length about the issue with congressional Republican leaders on Tuesday, discussing whether the agency known as FEMA should continue providing assistance to states in the same way, according to a person familiar with the conversation and granted anonymity to discuss it.
Conservatives have previously suggested reducing the amount that states are reimbursed for preventing and responding to disasters like floods, tornadoes, hurricanes and more.
Trump was critical of the agency this week in an interview with Sean Hannity of Fox News, saying “FEMA has not done their job for the last four years" and “FEMA is getting in the way of everything.”
The Republican president plans to visit North Carolina, which was devastated by Tropical Storm Helene in September, and California, which is reeling from some of the most destructive fires in its history, on Friday for his first trip since taking office on Monday.
North Carolina has been a focal point for Republican criticism of FEMA. Conservatives have criticized that hurricane victims were only receiving $750 in stopgap relief even if they suffered devastating losses, still waiting for additional assistance to be distributed.
Trump also suggested that he would withhold assistance from California during the interview with Hannity.
"I don’t think we should give California anything until they let water flow down into their system," he said.
The president has claimed that the California water policies, which involve fish conservation efforts in the northern part of the state, allowed fire hydrants to run dry in Los Angeles during the fires.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who comes from disaster prone Louisiana, has suggested conditioning federal aid to California.
Congress just last year replenished the federal disaster aid fund by $100 billion as part of a massive year-end appropriations bill signed into law by President Joe Biden in the aftermath of back-to-back hurricanes Helene and Milton.
But damages from the California fires are expected to tally as among the most expensive natural disaster in the nation’s history.
Trump made Cameron Hamilton, a former Navy SEAL and unsuccessful Republican congressional candidate from Virginia, the agency's interim administrator. Hamilton previously worked on emergency management issues for the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State.
He's been critical of FEMA on social media and outspoken about increasing security along the southern border, where the agency's resources could be redirected.
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