Trump says FEMA should be 'terminated' because it is 'ineffective', calls for states to manage disaster aid

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump called for the end of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and that individual states should handle their own emergency responses. 

"FEMA spent tens of millions of dollars in Democrat areas, disobeying orders, but left the people of North Carolina high and dry. It is now under review and investigation," Trump wrote, adding that FEMA under the Biden administration was a "disaster" and the agency "should be terminated." Trump continued, "It has been slow and totally ineffective. Individual states should handle storms, etc, as they come. Big savings, far more efficient."

The post comes after both the California wildfires that wreaked havoc on the Los Angeles area for weeks, and hurricanes Helene and Milton, which devastated portions of the Southeast, with North Carolina being hit the hardest in late September.

Elon Musk, the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), revealed on Monday that FEMA had paid $59 million to "luxury hotels in New York City to house illegal migrants" last week. Musk wrote, "The DOGE team just discovered that FEMA sent $59M LAST WEEK to luxury hotels in New York City to house illegal migrants. Sending this money violated the law and is in gross insubordination to the President’s executive order."

Trump signed an executive order after taking office that will establish a council to conduct a review of FEMA. The council will review FEMA’s "responses to Hurricane Helene and other recent disasters demonstrate the need to drastically improve the” agency’s “efficacy, priorities, and competence, including evaluating whether FEMA’s bureaucracy in disaster response ultimately harms the agency’s ability to successfully respond."

While on the ground in North Carolina assessing the damage that remained months after Hurricane Helene wiped towns off the map, Trump told reporters, "I think, frankly, FEMA's not good. I think when you have a problem like this, I think you want to go and, whether it's a Democrat or Republican governor, you want to use your state to fix it and not waste time calling FEMA."