FEMA set for elimination, Noem says, amid bipartisan House reform proposal

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said during Monday’s Cabinet meeting that the Federal Emergency Management Agency would be eliminated. At about the same time, in contrast, a bipartisan pair of lawmakers introduced legislation to separate FEMA from its parent department. 

Noem’s brief mention of FEMA came during her discussion of various DHS operations, of which the disaster management agency is a component. After detailing ongoing immigration enforcement efforts at the southern border and developing Coast Guard operations, the secretary concluded her remarks by noting that “we're going to eliminate FEMA.”

Given that FEMA is authorized in statute, it’s uncertain how much authority the Trump administration has to make changes to the agency’s organization without congressional approval. 

On Capitol Hill, a bipartisan House duo sponsored legislation that would turn FEMA into an independent, Cabinet-level agency. 

The bill comes from Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., who formerly served as director of emergency management in his home state, and Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., who is running for governor with the endorsement of President Donald Trump.

“As these emergencies continue to grow larger and more widespread, the American people deserve a federal response that is efficient and fast. To achieve that, FEMA should be reformed,” Moskowitz said in a statement. “FEMA currently sits under the bureaucracy of [DHS] — and with around 20 other agencies and offices under that umbrella, the set-up simply doesn’t work. DHS has become too big and too slow to oversee what needs to be a quick and flexible emergency response.”

Likewise, Donalds said in a statement that FEMA should report directly to the president, as it has become “overly-bureaucratic, overly-politicized [and] overly-inefficient.” 

Under the bill, the president would appoint, pending Senate confirmation, a director for FEMA and up to four deputy directors. Currently, only the FEMA administrator and deputy administrator require Senate confirmation, according to the 2024 plum book that identifies presidentially appointed government positions. 

It would require FEMA’s director to have at least five years of executive leadership experience respectively in the public and private sectors. In comparison, the administrator presently needs at least five years of such experience in the public or private sector. 

The measure also would maintain FEMA’s 10 regional offices and give the agency its own inspector general. 

FEMA’s fate has been an open question since a January visit to North Carolina where Trump said, while touring destruction caused by Hurricane Helene, that he was considering getting rid of the agency. 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,” he said. “I think that when there’s a problem with the state, I think that that problem should be taken care of by the state.”

On March 19, Trump signed an executive order that aims to give state and local governments more responsibility in preparing for natural disasters and cyberattacks. While the directive mandates the creation of a National Resilience Strategy and streamlining preparedness and response policies, it does not provide specific instructions for such governments nor does it modify FEMA in any way. 

An accompanying fact sheet said the order “enables state and local governments to better understand, plan for and address the needs of their citizens by reducing the complexity of federal preparedness and response policies.”