President Donald Trump speaks while visiting a neighborhood affected by Hurricane Helene in Swannanoa, North Carolina, on Jan. 24, 2025.

President Donald Trump speaks while visiting a neighborhood affected by Hurricane Helene in Swannanoa, North Carolina, on Jan. 24, 2025. MANDEL NGAN / Getty Images

Trump suggests eliminating FEMA while touring disaster site 

It’s unclear what actions the president could take to reorganize the agency without congressional approval. 

President Donald Trump, during a visit to North Carolina on Friday, floated terminating the Federal Emergency Management Agency. 

“I'll be signing an executive order to begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA or maybe getting rid of FEMA,” he said. “I think, frankly, FEMA is not good.”  

The president suggested that states should play a more significant role in disaster response.

“FEMA has been a very big disappointment.  They cost a tremendous amount of money.  It's very bureaucratic, and it's very slow. Other than that, we're very happy with them,” he said to laughter. “I think that when there’s a problem with the state, I think that that problem should be taken care of by the state.”

When asked about the timeline for such an order, Trump dodged, describing it as “going to be a period of time.” 

Trump has been critical of the response to and recovery from Hurricane Helene in the Southeast and Appalachia and the southern California wildfires, even mentioning it in his inaugural address Monday. 

Given that FEMA is authorized in statute, it’s uncertain how much authority Trump would have to unilaterally make changes to its organization. 

Trump also said that he would put Michael Whatley — the chairman of the Republican National Committee who was part of the trip — “in charge of making sure everything goes well.” 

When asked if Whatley’s role would be inside or outside of FEMA, Trump said he could have “any role he wants.” 

Whatley previously served as chairman of the North Carolina GOP and worked for numerous Republican officials. Based on his LinkedIn, he does not have any experience in disaster management. 

Gov. Kristi Noem, R-S.D., Trump’s nominee to lead the Homeland Security Department, said in her confirmation hearing on Jan. 17 that FEMA “failed miserably” at responding to Hurricane Helene. 

As of Oct. 29, 2024, approximately $2.3 billion had been approved for direct assistance, debris removal and emergency protective measures with respect to Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Also, more than 1,400 FEMA personnel were on the ground. 

While responding to Helene, FEMA paused its door-to-door canvassing following a surge of online posts that threatened violence against federal responders over misinformation about the agency’s relief efforts. An armed man was arrested in North Carolina after making threats against federal personnel.   

Also, FEMA removed a supervisor who instructed employees to skip over homes visibly supporting Trump in Florida. The agency has launched an internal probe into the incident. 

Gallup reported in 2023 that 49% of Americans rated FEMA as being excellent or good at its job, one of the highest ratings in the survey.