Louisiana Republican Rep. Garret Graves is emerging as a candidate to run the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the Trump administration, according to current and former senior FEMA officials.
Graves, who is retiring from the House in January, is one of the most knowledgeable members of Congress about emergency management and has led bipartisan efforts to improve FEMA’s response to disasters.
“He has a broad understanding of FEMA,” Michael Coen, the agency’s chief of staff and an appointee of President Joe Biden, told POLITICO’s E&E News on Monday. “He speaks eloquently.”
Coen said Graves “created a bit of a stir” at an international emergency management conference in November by showing a solid understanding of disaster response.
Pete Gaynor, who ran FEMA from 2019 to 2021 in the first Trump administration, said Graves would be “an interesting selection” because he’s spent 10 years in Congress and has been “pretty vocal about FEMA programs.”
“If you wanted to change the way FEMA delivers its disaster-recovery resources, … he would be an intriguing selection because he knows how to get stuff done in Congress,” Gaynor said Monday. “That may be a positive thing for the agency and disaster survivors.”
Congress has moved cautiously for years to change federal disaster laws, taking action only after major catastrophes exposed flaws in recovery efforts. The most recent FEMA overhaul was enacted in 2018, a year after hurricanes caused massive damage in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico.
“If you really wanted to change things — the Stafford Act, the way we deliver disaster recovery to survivors — I think it’s an interesting proposition to have someone who can rally his former colleagues,” Gaynor said.
Thad Huguley, government affairs director at the International Association of Emergency Managers, said Graves impressed association members when he spoke twice at the group’s November conference in Colorado.
“They found him incredibly insightful when it comes to emergency management policy. They were really impressed and, quite frankly, surprised to find there was a member of Congress who actually understands the details of emergency management,” Huguley said Monday.
Graves “would be a solid pick in my opinion,” Huguley added. He called Graves and Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), a former director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, “the two most knowledgeable members of Congress in the details and nuances of federal emergency management policy.”
In response to several questions from E&E News on Monday, Graves spokesperson Paul Sawyer said only, “Congressman Graves has advised President Trump’s campaign and transition team on transportation, infrastructure, energy and resilience policy.”
President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team did not respond to a request for comment.
Graves had been mentioned as a possible Transportation secretary before Trump named Fox Business host Sean Duffy, a former Republican House member from Wisconsin, to that post. Graves has been widely reported as a likely candidate to join the Trump administration.
Days before Trump selected Duffy, Sawyer told Louisiana television station WAFBthat “Graves has been working with and advising the Trump campaign most of this year on transportation and infrastructure policy.”
Graves, who has been supportive of Trump since at least 2021, condemned a New York jury’s convictionof Trump in May on charges of falsifying business records.
Challenges FEMA on border security
Graves, who is 52, has been a leading critic of FEMA and other federal disaster programs — and a fierce advocate for his southern Louisiana district, which runs from suburban New Orleans to the state’s flood-prone coast. Graves chose not to seek reelection in June after his district shifted Democratic when the Louisiana legislature redrew congressional boundaries.
As a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Graves has been an aggressive and sometimes witty questioner of FEMA officials. During the current Congress, Graves introduced bills with Democratic cosponsors to reduce FEMA reconstruction aid after “small disasters,” to accelerate FEMA’s aid payments and to simplify the process for people who apply for disaster money.
Graves has raised arcane details with FEMA leaders while generally avoiding partisan criticism. He is also known for having good relations with journalists. Before his initial run for Congress in 2014, Graves served as chair of the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority as it negotiated a settlement with BP over the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
But at a transportation subcommittee hearing the day after Trump nominated Sean Duffy to run DOT, Graves pressed FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell on what he called a “disparity” between FEMA disaster aid and money for undocumented migrants to the United States. Many Republicans, including Trump as a presidential candidate, have criticized FEMA for its work on the U.S.-Mexico border.
At the Nov. 19 hearing, Graves misleadingly said that households struck by Hurricane Helene “can get a check for $750” from FEMA while undocumented immigrants can get more than $10,000.
“How would I explain to a taxpayer that a taxpayer — a citizen of the United States — is eligible for $750, yet a citizen of a foreign country under your agency is still eligible for assistance of $10,000?” Graves asked Criswell, a Biden appointee.
Criswell corrected Graves, noting that disaster survivors can get $750 in immediate aid, while FEMA processes applications for additional aid of up to $85,000 per household.
“But, administrator,” Graves replied, “you understand the ridiculousness of this situation that we’re not helping our own citizens … and we’re helping out citizens of other countries when we’re not even meeting the fundamental needs of our own citizens.”
Criswell told the subcommittee that FEMA’s emergency-shelter program along the border — a focus of Republican disdain — had been created by Congress.
Graves has also been a leading critic of a FEMA program that has resulted in millions of people, including many in his district, facing higher premiums for federal flood insurance. Under the moniker Risk Rating 2.0, FEMA restructured its insurance rates so premiums reflect the flood risk of each property more accurately — a move cheered by environmentalists and many Republicans.
The restructuring aims to discourage development in flood-prone areas and has been attacked by coastal lawmakers from both parties for raising insurance premiums by thousands of dollars. Risk Rating 2.0 was developed under the previous two presidents — Barack Obama and Trump — and was implemented under Biden.
This story also appears in E&E Daily.
