For millions of Americans who experience a destructive flood, wildfire or other disaster, the Federal Emergency Management Agency often represents hope for relief. However, as the nation moves through hurricane season and watches a strengthening El Niño that could intensify extreme weather events through the fall and winter, the federal disaster relief agency has been in turmoil for 18 months. Even before his second inauguration, President Donald Trump raised the possibility of abolishing the agency and turning its work over to state and local governments.
Days after taking office, he ordered a FEMA review. During the DOGE era, thousands of employees departed through terminations, buyouts and other measures. At least four people have served as acting FEMA chief in the new administration, and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, is on its second secretary.
Questions arose about the agency's response to the deadly Kerr County, Texas, flooding in July 2025. The advocacy organization Sabotaging Our Safety has leveled criticisms about FEMA’s ability to respond to disasters in light of the staffing shortages and other issues at the beleaguered agency. Members of Congress also have questioned its readiness to respond to catastrophic disasters. Now Congress is taking up a bipartisan bill filed in the summer of 2025 aimed at “fixing” FEMA. On July 15, the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure is set to hold a hearing to consider FEMA reforms, including the bill, which would take FEMA out of Homeland Security and make it a Cabinet-level agency again, reporting directly to the president.
House and Senate Democrats also are demanding answers about whether department resources were unlawfully directed toward immigrant enforcement and whether partisan politics are playing an outsized role in the agency's disaster decisions. A group of Democratic senators also has asked the Trump administration to provide a breakdown of disaster declarations to explain whether it's harder under the current administration for "blue states" to get disaster funding. Given the attention from Congress and the pending confirmation of Cameron Hamilton to return as FEMA chief, a post he briefly held in 2025, observers say they hope to see emerging answers to ongoing questions about the agency’s mission in the months to come.
Critics and supporters agree change is needed, said Josh Morton, president of the International Association of Emergency Managers-USA. "I don't think you will find an emergency manager in the United States, including the employees at FEMA, that would disagree with the statement that we need changes," said Morton, director of emergency management in Saluda County, South Carolina. FEMA's processes “are overly complicated, programs are extremely complex and it is very difficult at times to navigate the federal system." Among the questions being debated are what the agency’s response should look like for survivors waiting for help after the next disaster, how the responsibility is divvied up among the state, local and federal government and who foots the bills.
In Swannanoa, North Carolina, Beth Trigg saw hundreds of homes damaged or destroyed in her community by the remnants of Hurricane Helene in 2024. Her home was one of few that survived in her neighborhood. All around her neighbors are at various stages of the FEMA relief process. In the immediate aftermath of Helene, Trigg began helping her neighbors and then the broader community navigate the intricacies of disaster-relief at the federal, state and local levels. For storm survivors, navigating those processes to secure disaster relief is like a full-time job, Trigg said.
People who are computer savvy and college educated with flexible jobs that allow them to navigate the online process have the advantage, she said. "There's thousands of people in our community who have not been able to do that. And they have needed support," she said. "Our nonprofits have been catching people who fall through the cracks, and there's a lot of very big cracks."
"We don't think FEMA needs to be destroyed or eliminated," said Trigg, who co-founded the nonprofit Swannanoa Communities Together with her sister after Helene. But it does need to be redesigned to meet community needs in a better way, she said. FEMA’s mission, bureaucracy and effectiveness have long been scrutinized, particularly after large disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Andrew. It's been the subject of numerous Government Accountability Office reports and ongoing conversations about how to be responsive, but accountable, while safeguarding against fraud.
The agency’s cupboard isn’t bare, Fugate said. "FEMA still has talented people and experienced leaders," he said, including Bob Fenton, now serving as acting agency chief and expected to return to his position as Region 9 administrator. Fenton is "arguably one of the most experienced" disaster managers in the world, Fugate said.
John Scardena, an emergency management consultant and host of the Disaster Tough podcast, also has praised the experienced staff that remain at FEMA, after talking with friends inside and outside the agency. "I think that FEMA is in a much better position than what some believe," Scardena said. After serving briefly as acting administrator in 2025, Hamilton was ousted by then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in May 2025, after telling Congress it wasn't "in the best interest of the American people" to eliminate FEMA.
A former Navy SEAL, combat veteran and crisis response official, President Donald Trump nominated Hamilton to the post again in May. Bringing Hamilton back shows "a commitment" to keeping FEMA, Scardena said. In a Sep. 3, 2025, episode of Scardena's podcast, Hamilton said it makes sense to phase FEMA out of certain elements of response and recovery. Addressing the agency’s mission creep and expanding scope requires engagement and partnership, Hamilton has said.
Hamilton immediately began that engagement after his appointment in 2025, Morton said. He started reaching out to state and local emergency managers and others to learn more. That continued even after he was dismissed, Morton said. For a year now, Hamilton has been “getting out, meeting everybody, talking to people and learning as much as he could about emergency management at the state level, the local level and the federal level," Morton said.
"I think that he's going to do a great job and he's going to be able to move FEMA forward in ways that we haven't seen in a long time." During a May confirmation hearing, Hamilton told a Senate committee he would “ensure that FEMA is objective, is fair and reasonable, follows the law and is consistent” in evaluating disaster declaration requests.
He also pledged to "restore the American people’s faith in the agency and its vital mission." Morton said he's much more optimistic than he was at this time last year about the agency’s leadership and its future, especially now that the "get rid of FEMA" narrative is gone.
The kind of collaboration that makes a successful disaster relief operation is what's needed to propel things forward in this case, Morton said. "Let's fix the problems and let's work together to do it." Much of FEMA's mission is spelled out in legislation, and will require congressional action to change, and that will take time, he said, joking that people don’t use the term “an act of Congress for nothing.” "We have the FEMA Review Council report, but now we've got to kind of see where Congress is going to go with this," he said. "It's a fun time to be alive in emergency management."
