Washington could bear responsibility for natural disasters as Trump eyes changes to FEMA

Washington state could soon be responsible for a bigger share of disaster relief response, a possibility state officials have spent months preparing for.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday, President Donald Trump said his administration is examining multiple options for “phasing out” the Federal Emergency Management Agency and providing funding directly to states that experience a natural disaster.

The plan, Trump said, wouldn’t necessarily mean that states receive less money, but that the funds would be given “directly” from the president’s office or Homeland Security. According to the president, the overhaul could take place after the hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean, which ends on Nov. 30.

“We’re going to do it much differently,” Trump said.

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem added that administration will spend the next several months “working on reforms” for the agency. Established by President Jimmy Carter in 1979, the agency has a budget of $33 billion for fiscal year 2025.

“It will empower governors to go out and respond to emergency situations, and what the president does best is to make sure that the taxpayers are only fulfilling the need to which is appropriate,” Noem said. “And that people are responsible to respond to their own people closest to home.”

Noem said that in the past, the agency has failed “thousands if not millions of people.”

“And President Trump does not want to see that continue into the future,” Noem said. “This agency, fundamentally, needs to go away as it exists.”

Faced with a natural disaster, Trump said the governor of a state “should be able to handle it.”

“And, frankly, if they can’t handle it, the aftermath, then maybe they shouldn’t be governor,” Trump said.

For months, state lawmakers have been preparing for the possibility that Washington may receive less federal assistance during natural disasters. During an April 1 news conference, Gov. Bob Ferguson said the state receives $600 million for disaster recovery and response from the federal government during a two-year budget cycle. In total, federal funding accounts for 28% of the state’s revenue.

“There are no guarantees that federal funding will continue in these and other areas,” Ferguson said.

During the news conference, which came as budget writers worked to craft the state’s two-year budget, Ferguson called on the state to maintain its rainy day fund, which he said was necessary in part to maintain services should the state face additional federal cuts.

“Washington is the fourth-most disaster-prone state in the nation. The federal government, as you know, is making dramatic cuts to FEMA,” Ferguson said. “It is a sad commentary on what is happening with the federal administration that we can no longer count on them when we have our next natural disaster. We must be prepared to help communities and Washingtonians across the state who find themselves confronting the impacts of, for example, a fire, if the federal government does not come through with assistance.”

In April, FEMA denied Washington’s application to assist with federal disaster relief to aid with an estimated $34 million in damage from a series of storms in Western Washington last fall. Following the announcement, Ferguson said the state would appeal the decision and said it was “another troubling example of the federal government withholding funding.”