Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., warned the House Rules Committee on Wednesday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) “is going to fail this summer” due to the actions of the Trump administration.
Moskowitz began his remarks by saying that while he agreed with President Donald Trump on retooling the agency, he firmly disagreed with the administration’s tactics.
“Let me say this again, the president was right that FEMA needs reform – but the Secretary of Homeland Security is dead wrong that FEMA should be deleted,” Moskowitz said.
Earlier in the month, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem reiterated her stance that FEMA should be eliminated in favor of giving more authority to states. Last week, acting director of FEMA David Richardson said he plans to “return primacy to the state” which would entail putting far more financial burden on those inflicted by disasters.
Richardson said the agency plans to cut its financial outlay to half of what a state needs to respond to a disaster in future reforms.
“FEMA 2 will look different than FEMA 1. There will be much more emphasis on the states to do response and recovery, to some degree preparedness as well,” Richardson told a staff town hall.
“In fact, I would tell you that the secretary of Homeland Security has turned FEMA into the Newark Airport, OK? It is going to fail this summer,” Moskowitz continued in reference to the multiple technical and personnel shortages suffered this month at the New Jersey airport.
“And so, look, there’s no doubt that FEMA needed reform, but what they’ve done at Homeland is they’ve taken something that needed help and they broke it further,” Moskowitz said. “Remember that ‘DOGE’? Remember the E at the end of DOGE? The word ‘efficiency’?” Moskowitz asked in his remarks. “Nothing at FEMA has been made more efficient.”
Moskowitz, who served as Florida’s director of Emergency Management before joining Congress, noted that many high-risk states are the home of Republican leadership such as Louisiana, where Speaker Mike Johnson and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise reside.
“Do you know what happens if there’s no FEMA to a state that the Speaker represents? Louisiana goes bankrupt without FEMA, when there’s a hurricane that comes in from the Gulf of Mexico or the Gulf of America, comes right into Louisiana, they’re bankrupt,” Moskowitz said, adding, “And yet, I don’t see my Republican colleagues calling out the administration on how we’re going to save FEMA and reform it.”
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