Cnn
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President Donald Trump suggested that he could eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Friday during a trip to visit the damage caused by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina floods, a state that, according to him, “was abandoned by the Democrats”.
Trump’s comments intervened while He also travels to CaliforniaWhere forest fires have ravaged the Los Angeles region, and while Capitol Republicans are starting to navigate between the conservative desire to reduce Trump’s expenses and promises to help the two cities to rebuild themselves. This trip is Trump’s first outside of Washington since his inauguration on Monday.
“It is probably one of the best examples of failure,” he told journalists about Fema’s efforts in North Carolina, a pivotal state that he won three times, where he has sought to oppose his leadership to what he described as mismanagement of democrats.
He then declared that he could soon abolish the agency and send money directly to the states so that they manage their own help efforts in the event of a disaster.
And he said he called on a political ally – the president of the National Republican Committee Michael Whatley, from North Carolina – to direct state recovery efforts alongside Democratic Governor Josh Stein.
When asked how he would resolve the challenges of North Carolina, Trump replied that he “didn’t really think of FEMA for the moment”. Instead, he pointed to Whatley and three Republican members of the Congress.
“When there is a problem with a state, I think this problem should be solved by the state. This is why we have states: they take care of the problems, and a governor can manage something very quickly, “said the president.
He said FEMA “was a very great disappointment” and described it as slow, too bureaucratic and costly for the federal government.
“Fema turned out to be a disaster,” he said. “I think we are going to recommend that FEMA disappears and that we pay directly, we pay a percentage, in the state, and the state should solve the problem.”
FEMA officials have endeavored to understand her comments in North Carolina on Friday, with staff members from all over the country and send SMS, trying to understand what his statements meant for the future of The agency and work in the field, according to a close source.
Trump’s desire to eliminate or reduce FEMA could have deterrent effects on emergency responses, even at the States level, the former FEMA chief, Deanne Criswell, told CNN.
“We have to believe him, and I think that the managing directors of the Emergencies of the States should be concerned about what it means for the tornadoes season in the spring” and the next hurricanes season, said Criswell, which served Under the former president Joe Biden. “Do they have the resources necessary to protect their residents?”
FEMA entrusts certain tasks, such as cleaning debris, to other federal agencies such as the body of American army engineers, which cleaned debris during recent disasters, especially those of Helene and forest fires MAUI. States cannot activate these resources themselves.
“This coordination piece led by FEMA is one of the most critical (roles) that we play in stabilizing these incidents,” said Criswell. In addition to helping to finance recovery and reconstruction after a disaster, FEMA also reimburses states and municipalities for research and rescue operations as part of an immediate response to a disaster.
If states lost this FEMA funding, they should find money elsewhere, she said.
Trump’s comments also left many unanswered questions about what these projects would mean for the displaced residents of western North Carolina, who told CNN that they were worried about their accommodation in the days and weeks to come.
FEMA claims that around 13,000 households from western North Carolina used its transitional shelter aid program – and an agency official declared in a letter In Stein last Sunday, he extended the program until May 26. However, some displaced residents who spoke to CNN declared that they were uncertain about their future and frustrated by the difficulties in obtaining rapid answers on the types of aid to which they are entitled and when this aid. ends.
Immediately after the floods caused by the hurricane, an unprecedented amount of false information circulated on the storm and the response of the federal government, in particular affirmations according to which the FEMA funds were directed to migrant services instead of efforts recovery and statements that survivors were only eligible for $ 750 of aid. . Trump has amplified many of these false claims.
“Quite simply absurd”: the mayor of North Carolina demystifies the allegations of land grabbing following the Hurricane Helene
Trump’s journey comes after he talked about aid to California and North Carolina for a long time, as well as the way and the opportunity to finance it, during his meeting earlier this week with the Republican leaders of the Chamber and the Senate, said a person present in the room.
While the Republicans now control the two chambers of the congress and the conservatives require that the expenses be limited, Trump and the leaders of the Congress will also have to find means to compensate for any rescue expenditure in the event of a disaster.
Several GOP leaders stressed at the meeting on Tuesday that they were to be “aware of the way we pay the bills,” said the person in the room.
The president of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, said, according to the participants, about the next congress: “We must control our expenses”.
Trump and Johnson criticized Water management in CaliforniaAnd Johnson said that legislators could impose conditions on aid in the event of a disaster for the State. Several Republicans who won tight races in the Chamber in California have pushed back, notably the representative Young Kim, who represents a battlefield district in the County of Orange.
“We cannot do policy with the means of subsistence of the Americans,” said Kim on Thursday. “If more federal aid is necessary to support the first stakeholders in the fight against forest fires, we must achieve.”
However, on Friday, Trump explained what he said to be the conditions for helping California, saying that he wanted the state to demand the identification of voters and that “water will be released”.
“You want to have proof of citizenship. Ideally, you have one day to vote. But I just want an identification of voters to start. And I want the water to be released, and they will receive a lot of aid from the United States, “Trump told journalists when he arrived in North Carolina.
Trump seeks to have a large part of his program adopted in the Capitol as part of a bill on reconciliation spending. He told journalists on Tuesday that he thought that requests for helping Democrats for the Los Angeles region would make the adoption of this “simpler” major bill.
“They are going to need a lot of money and, in general, I think many democrats are going to ask for help,” said Trump.
In the interview with Hannity, he said that even if the Democrats are looking for federal aid for California, they “do not care” either from North Carolina.
Ella Nilsen, Alayna Treene, Hanna Park and Priscilla Alvarez of CNN contributed to this report.
This story has been updated with additional reports.