Trump flows and overtakes or eliminates FEMA while touring around the hurricane in North Carolina

President Donald Trump on Friday shot the idea of ​​revising or eliminating Federal Emergency Management Agency, or Fema while visiting North Carolina to see the aftermath of last year’s hurricane Helene.

“I also want to sign an order to begin the process of basic reforms and overhaul of FEMA, or maybe get rid of Fema. I honestly think FEMA is not good,” Trump said by a Hurride Briefing in Fletcher, North Carolina.

“Fema has really failed us, failed the country. And I don’t know if it’s the bite of the bite or whose fault it is, but we have to take it over. We’re going to do a good job,” Trump told journalists in separate Remarks on landing in Asheville.

He suggested to cut Fema out of the process completely for future natural disasters and said “I will be direct. In other words, help will go through us. So instead of going through FEMA, it will go through us. And I think, That it may be a good place to start because, and in all justice to the governor, in all justice to everyone else, FEMA was not on the ball and we will turn it all around.

The president talked about revising FEMA completely and saying “probably less Fema because Fema just hasn’t done the job. And we look at the whole concept of FEMA.”

He also expressed support to allow states to take responsibility for disaster preparedness in the wake of natural disasters such as hurricanes and natural fires, and told journalists: “I want to see the states take care of disasters, let the state take care of the tornados and hurricanes and all the others Things that happen.

“So it seems to be the recommendation, but we will make that recommendation over the next few weeks,” Trump added.

He repeated this mindset of the hurricane’s recovery briefing and said, “I think we would recommend that FEMA disappear and we pay directly, we pay a percentage to the state, but the state should arrange this.”

He also called the agency “very bureaucratic” and “very slow”.

Traditionally, FEMA not only works in response to natural disasters to clean up waste and provide humanitarian assistance, but together with state and local partners.

As it seems right now, both state fraud and FEMA are playing a role in disaster preparedness. Despite the president’s language saying he would like to see states take care of disasters, governors are already taking the primary responsibility for the reaction. They have the ability to declare emergency states, control and coordinate their emergency management bodies and deploy state resources such as National Guard.

It is only when states make a formal request for federal assistance – or when the situation clearly exceeds state and local opportunities – that the federal government comes in, and it requires the president to sign a disaster declaration.

Does Trump have the power to eliminate FEMA?

To eliminate FEMA hero as Trump suggested, he would need Congress to give him “Presidential Reorganization Authority” under Law on Presidential Reorganization. In short, Trump could seek support from both chambers to the authority to consolidate, reorganize, or eliminate senior department departments.

It was the last time Congress gave a president such authority under the Reagan administration.

In 2012, then -President Barack Obama came to Congress with a restructuring proposal but was rejected.

Neither Trump nor the Republicans of Congress have publicly spoken about the action or any attempt to approve the use of it to Trump.

Trump’s recent story of interrogating FEMA

Trump has long regarded FEMA as an enemy and joined other Republicans last year in spreading misinformation about the agency in the wake of the devastating hurricane that hit North Carolina in September.

While on the campaign track, Trump criticized FEMA’s reaction to Hurricane Helene and blamed the Democrats mistakenly stealing money from the agency.

“They stole the FEMA money, just as they stole them from a bank so they could give them to their illegal immigrants,” Trump said during a meeting in Michigan.

He seemed to mix two different FEMA Funds together- a fund dedicated to disaster relief and cannot be used for other reasons, and a fund that FEMA gained control over in 2022 to convey money from customs and border protection to Society facing an influx of migrants.

And earlier this month, Trump apparently spread the same conspiracy theory again, this time in the wake of the destructive forest fires swept through southern California.

“No water in the fire hydrants, no money in FEMA. That’s what Joe Biden leaves me. Thanks Joe!” he wrote in a Truthsocial post, while then-President Joe Biden received a crisis management briefing from officials in Los Angeles.

This week, prior to his Friday trip to southern California to see the consequences of the natural fires, Trump threatened to withhold federal help from California unless they meet his political demands.

“I don’t think we should give California anything until they let the water flow in there from north to south,” the president told Fox News, revived an ongoing political battle Trump has chosen with Governor Gavin Newsom, D- California , over the State Water Management and Threatened Species.

During his visit to North Carolina, Trump repeated her threat of water management and demanded changes in the state’s voter ID law.

“I want to see two things in Los Angeles. Voters ID, so the people have a chance to vote and I want to see the water being released and getting down in Los Angeles and throughout the state,” he said.