A top House Democrat is asking for a briefing on the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s ability to handle the upcoming hurricane season after losing 10 percent of its workforce under President Donald Trump.
In a sharply worded letter to Trump, Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey said Thursday that FEMA is “dangerously unprepared” and needs “immediate and serious reforms” before hurricane season starts on June 1.
Pallone, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, also criticized a recent proposal by a Trump-appointed FEMA advisory panel to reduce the amount of disaster aid that goes to states. He called the plan “incredibly alarming.”
“States lack the capacity and financial resources to respond to the increasing frequency of extreme weather events,” Pallone wrote in the two-page letter.
