Trump's FEMA review council recommends widespread changes
· UPIMay 7 (UPI) -- A group appointed by President Donald Trump made its final recommendations Thursday on changes to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, suggesting moves that would put more responsibility back on states and other authorities.
The changes also include reviews of agency staffing and privatizing flood insurance, The Hill reported.
"We need to refocus FEMA to get it back on what its mission originally was," Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said. FEMA is part of Homeland Security.
Panel members said FEMA has become too involved in politics, specifically mentioning state assistance during the coronavirus epidemic, The New York Times reported. Recommendations included changes in how FEMA helps state and local governments with financial recovery.
"Disaster response is complicated and increasingly expensive," the final report said. "With taxpayers bearing the burden of funding emergency management in the United States, it is the responsibility of every American to embrace their individual responsibility to lessen this burden by being prepared for disasters. ... As our nation returns ownership of emergency management back to local communities and their states, tribes and territories, we encourage every American to review their insurance policies and personal disaster plans as well as engaging with their local community leaders to be better prepared when disaster strikes."
Trump has said that FEMA's work is too expensive and that state governors should be able to manage more on their own, the Times reported. He has also suggested in the past that the agency should "go away" entirely.
The changes recommended by the report would require congressional approval. They include tweaks meant to make the reimbursement process, once approved, quicker and more direct, and changes meaning the FEMA plays less of a role in helping disaster survivors find housing.
"These recommendations are all about accelerating federal dollars, streamlining the process, making it less bureaucratic, so that Americans can get the help they need on the worst day of their lives," said former Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a member of the council. "And this is not a moment for bureaucracy, it is a moment for action, it is a moment for clarity."
The Environmental Defense Fund said in a statement that Americans are facing increasingly severe weather and the council's recommendations "don't meet this reality."
"The proposed changes would leave communities without the necessary funding, information and access to insurance to stay prepared and safe when disasters strike," said Will McDow, the fund's associate vice president for coasts and watersheds.
The group said the proposed changes would "shift enormous burdens onto states and communities and reduce government efficiency."