Republicans to Trump: Mend FEMA — don’t end it

By Zack Colman | 01/30/2025 06:15 AM EST

GOP lawmakers resisted the president’s suggestion FEMA might need to “go away,” but they support changes to the disaster response agency.

Donald Trump stands amid wreckage from Hurricane Helene.

President Donald Trump, pictured in September surveying damage in Georgia from Hurricane Helene, has suggested major changes to — and even shuttering — the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

President Donald Trump’s suggestions he might shut down the federal agency charged with responding to disasters are running into trouble with Republican lawmakers.

Trump’s remarks last week that the Federal Emergency Management Agency might need to “go away” reignited debate over how the federal and state governments split the financial and logistical responsibility for disaster response. But deeply red states are experiencing some of the costliest disasters, and lawmakers from those states fear eliminating FEMA could leave them on the hook for increasingly expensive bills.

GOP lawmakers are open to overhauling FEMA but flatly reject the idea of abolishing the agency.

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“FEMA can’t go away,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) told reporters Tuesday. “I think the first job of the federal government is to protect people and property.”

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