The South is especially vulnerable to storms and flooding due to its low-lying coastal plains, and lawmakers and activists there are questioning what President Donald Trump’s shifting views on the future of the Federal Emergency Management Assistance could mean.
It’s front of mind for many of them as recent storms, like the deadly flash flooding in Texas over the Fourth of July weekend, and Hurricane Helene, which tore apart North Carolina in September, have devastated their states. The latter prompted remarks from Trump about the changing role FEMA should play in disaster response moving forward. For Democrats, this is cause for concern. For Republicans, it’s a temporary state of limbo.
Republican state Rep. John Wyble of Louisiana told NOTUS that Trump’s changing stance on the agency is part of the “legislative process” that often “gets murky and complicated.” He said if he had the chance to talk to Trump, he would advocate for a continued investment on behalf of the federal government in disaster response.