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Trump floats or eliminates FEMA as he is touring the hurricane damage in North Carolina

President Donald Trump put forward the idea on Friday to revise or eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), while visiting North Carolina to see last year’s hurricane Helene.

“I will also sign an executive order to start the process of fundamental reform and revision of FEMA, or perhaps to abolish FEMA. I honestly think that Fema is not good, “Trump said during a hurricane recovery briefing in Fletcher, North Carolina.

“FEMA has really abandoned us, abandoning the country. And I don’t know if that is the fault of Biden or whose fault it is, but we are going to take over. We are going to do a good job, “Trump told reporters in separate comments when he landed in Asheville.

He suggested to completely remove FEMA from the process for future natural disasters, by saying: “I will be immediately. In other words: the help will go through us. So instead of going through FEMA, it will go through us. And I think this might be a good place to start with, because, and in all honesty towards the governor, in all honesty towards everyone else, Fema was not at the ball, and we will all turn it around. ”

The president spoke about the complete revision of FEMA and said: “Probably less Fema, because FEMA simply did not do the work. And we look at the entire Fema concept. “

He also expressed his support for allowing states to lead the response to disasters in the aftermath of natural disasters such as hurricanes and forest fires, and said to reporters: “I would like to see the states tackle disasters, the state of the state Let tornadoes take care of the hurricanes and all the other things that happen.

“So that seems to be the recommendation, but we will make that recommendation in the coming weeks,” Trump added.

He repeated that idea during the hurricane repair briefing and said: “I think we will recommend FEMA to leave and that we pay directly, we pay a percentage to the state, but the state has to solve this.”

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He also called the agency ‘very bureaucratic’ and ‘very slow’.

Traditionally, FEMA not only works in response to natural disasters to tidy up and offer humanitarian aid, but together with state and local partners.

As it stands now, both the Governors of the States and the FEMA play a role in the response to disasters. Although the president says in his language that he would like to see that states are tackling disasters, governors are already taking the primary responsibility for the response. They have the opportunity to announce the state of emergency, to check and coordinate their emergency management authorities, and to use state resources such as the National Guard.

Only when states submit a formal request for federal help – or when the situation clearly exceeds the capacities of the state and the locals – does the federal government intervene, and that requires the president to sign a disaster statement.

Does Trump have the power to eliminate FEMA?

To fully eliminate FEMA, as Trump suggested, he would need the congress to give him “presidential reorganization authority” under the Presidential Reorganization Act. In short, Trump could seek support from both rooms for the authority to consolidate, reorganize or eliminate executive departments.

The last time the congress gave a president such an authority was during the Reagan government.

In 2012, the then President Barack Obama came to the congress with a restructuring proposal, but that was rejected.

Neither Trump nor the Republicans in the congress have publicly discussed the law or any attempt to allow it to use it for Trump.

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After Trump’s comments, Senator Thom Tillis, RN.C., thanked the president for his visit to his state, but bypassed the President’s potential plan to undermine FEMA.

“Under President Biden, FEMA’s inability to act quickly and communicate vulnerable families in danger due to the freezing temperatures outside. Despite our continuing pressure, FEMA has made little progress when offering direct housing solutions for those who are most affected by Helene, “Tillis said in a statement.

He added: “Things will change under President Trump, and his visit shows that his government is committed to the population of West-Noord-Carolina, as he promised during the campaign. I look forward to working with the Trump-Vance government to ensure that all available there are federal resources deployed and the administrative hassle that prevents families from gaining access to housing is eliminated. ”

Senator Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., Supported Trump’s plan more explicitly and said it is “logical”.

“Governors know more about what is going on than anyone else, in their state. They will be more aggressive in helping their people, but there is something else – something has to be done, because FEMA is currently , it runs at a slow pace, “he added.

Another colleague of Tillis, Republican Senator Susan Collins from Maine, said reporters that she “hears very disappointing messages about the way FEMA operated, that they showed up very late”, from her colleagues whose states were hit by hurricanes.

But she added: ‘I still think you need a kind of Fema-like agency at the federal level, because states are overwhelmed in times of terrible natural disasters, but it sounds like a hearing about supervision or some reforms based on The feedback I received. Today is justified. “

Trumps recent history of interrogating FEMA

Trump has long considers FEMA as an enemy and last year joined other Republicans when spreading wrong information about the agency in the aftermath of the devastating hurricane that hit North Carolina in September.

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During his campaign, Trump criticized Fema’s response to the hurricane Helene and wrongly blamed the Democrats for stealing money from the agency.

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

He seemed to be confused two different FEMA funds: a fund that focuses on disaster relief and cannot be used for other reasons, and a fund about which FEMA was in control of spreading money from customs and border protection among communities that have to do with an influx of migrants. .

And earlier this month, Trump apparently spread the same conspiracy theory again, this time in the aftermath of the devastating forest fires that raged through southern California.

“No water in the fire hydrants, no money in FEMA. This is what Joe Biden leaves me. Thank you Joe! ” He wrote in a Truthsocial post while the then President Joe Biden received an emergency management briefing from officials in Los Angeles.

This week, prior to his Friday trip to southern California to see the aftermath of the forest fires, Trump threatened to hold Federal Aid to California unless it would meet its political requirements.

“I don’t think we should give California anything until they let the water flow from the north to the south,” the president told Fox News, with whom he brings a persistent political fight that Trump has breathed new life with Governor Gavin Newsom new life . California, about the water management of the state and endangered species.

During his visit to North Carolina, Trump repeated his threat to water management and demanded changes in the state legislation on voters identification.

“I want to see two things in Los Angeles. Voters ID, so that people get the chance to vote, and I want the water to be released and to Los Angeles and the whole state flows, “he said.

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