The Trump administration and its allies made the country less prepared for disasters by undoing key safety rules and choking off funding. FEMA stopped using stricter flood-risk standards and moved to shut down the BRIC resilience program, though courts later blocked some of these actions. A broad grant freeze and new strings on aid caused confusion and delays for states, while proposed cuts to NOAA and layoffs at the National Weather Service threatened the quality of weather warnings. A hiring freeze and funding pauses also slowed wildfire prevention and firefighter staffing. Finally, leaders floated shrinking or “rebranding” FEMA and raising the bar for who gets federal help—changes judges again had to halt—leaving families and communities more exposed when crises hit.
¶ Trump and Republicans rolled back core federal resilience standards and programs
- On March 25, 2025, FEMA stopped implementing the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard for FEMA-funded actions, eliminating requirements to account for future flood risk in federally supported rebuilding and mitigation projects. (fema.gov)
- FEMA announced it was ending the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program and canceling pending applications from FY2020–FY2023, clawing back unspent resilience funds. (fema.gov)
- Major outlets reported the BRIC termination and cancellations, underscoring the program’s role in elevating roads, hardening infrastructure, and other local risk‑reduction projects. (apnews.com)
- A federal judge later blocked the administration from diverting billions away from BRIC, recognizing states’ claims of unlawful termination and irreparable harm to preparedness. (reuters.com)
- The Council on Environmental Quality rescinded its NEPA implementing regulations and withdrew federal guidance on considering climate change and greenhouse gas emissions in environmental reviews, reducing systematic consideration of climate risks in federal projects. (federalregister.gov)
¶ Preparedness and disaster funds Americans rely on were frozen, politicized, or targeted for reallocation.
- The White House attempted a sweeping freeze of federal grants and loans on Jan. 27, 2025; multiple federal courts enjoined the freeze as lacking statutory authority, after days of confusion that disrupted funding pipelines relied on by states and localities. (reuters.com)
- Reuters reported FEMA suspended distribution of Emergency Management Performance Grants (the backbone of local emergency management staffing and readiness) unless states certified immigration‑related population adjustments; EMPG is a core preparedness grant. (reuters.com)
- A federal judge ordered the administration to preserve $233 million in FEMA grants it attempted to pull from certain states, finding the move unlawful and ensuring funds remained available for preparedness. (politico.com)
- The administration proposed slashing New York’s homeland security/emergency preparedness grants by $187 million before reversing after bipartisan outcry and litigation—demonstrating an initial attempt to sharply cut readiness funds. (apnews.com)
¶ Scientific and forecasting capacity vital to public warnings was targeted for cuts
- The administration’s FY2026 plan proposed eliminating NOAA’s Oceanic and Atmospheric Research branch and cutting NOAA’s budget by roughly 27%, including significant cuts to weather/climate labs and satellites that improve severe‑weather warnings. (washingtonpost.com)
- NPR reported large layoffs at NOAA (including National Weather Service positions), raising concerns about the agency’s ability to provide timely forecasts and warnings the public relies on. (npr.org)
- After staffing reductions strained operations during severe‑weather season, NWS moved to refill 126 positions, an implicit acknowledgment of degraded capacity. (npr.org)
- PolitiFact summarized the situation: the Trump FY2026 proposal would cut NOAA by about 28% while NWS staffing was already down roughly 17%—changes that, while not “defunding,” still degrade readiness. (politifact.com)
¶ Wildfire readiness was undermined by freezes on prevention funding and delays in firefighter hiring.
- A government‑wide hiring freeze stalled onboarding of critical seasonal federal firefighters ahead of wildfire season, with frontline officials warning of understaffed crews and degraded response capacity. (cnn.com)
- Reuters reported a halt to federal funding for wildfire risk‑reduction projects and freezes on seasonal hiring, stopping fuel‑reduction and forest‑health work that helps prevent catastrophic fires. (reuters.com)
- In California, the Bureau of Land Management paused hazard‑fuel reduction projects funded under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law because of the federal freeze, interrupting planned treatment work across hundreds of thousands of acres. (sfchronicle.com)
- Senate oversight highlighted that the administration’s FY2026 budget proposed eliminating State Fire Assistance and other state/tribal wildfire programs, shifting costs to states and communities. (padilla.senate.gov)
¶ The administration sought to shrink or even abolish FEMA and raise the bar for who gets aid.
- DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said she supports “getting rid of FEMA the way it exists today,” and the administration later characterized plans as a “rebranding” that would reduce FEMA’s central role—signaling a policy direction to shrink federal disaster responsibilities. (nbcchicago.com)
- The acting FEMA administrator who told Congress FEMA shouldn’t be eliminated was replaced the next day, and a review council was established to “reform” federal disaster response. (washingtonpost.com)
- An internal FEMA memo proposed dramatically raising damage thresholds for federal Public Assistance and reducing the federal cost share—changes that would make it “much harder” for states and communities to qualify for aid during 2025’s peak disaster months. (us.cnn.com)
- Courts also intervened to stop the administration from clawing back FEMA funds from targeted states, reinforcing that attempts to reduce or redirect aid would unlawfully undercut disaster support. (politico.com)