Georgia Faces Winter Storm This Weekend After Trump Administration Stripped $37.5 Million in Airport Funding Over Political Dispute
GEORGIA — As a major winter storm bears down on the South this weekend, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport faces the threat with $37.5 million less in federal funding that could’ve been used to support critical de-icing infrastructure or other upgrades. Compounding the threat, the Trump administration has devastated FEMA’s capacity to respond to natural disaster with a series of staffing cuts and complicated bureaucratic red tape.
"The Trump administration looked at the world's busiest airport, knew it faces increasing winter weather challenges, and decided to punish it for refusing to bow to their political demands," said Sabotaging Our Safety Advisory Council Member and CEO of Fair Fight (GA) Lauren Groh-Wargo. “Like Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s politicization of FEMA, the Trump administration is weaponizing funding to force compliance with a political agenda. And when this weekend's storm hits, travelers across the country and thousands of families in Georgia could pay the price for this administration's vindictive decision.”
Additional expert spokespeople are available to discuss the real-world impacts of an underfunded FEMA across the country.
WHAT’S HAPPENING: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport requires frequent de-icing operations during winter weather "even this far down south," but the Trump administration has recklessly slashed funding.
Winter Storm Cora last year proved exactly how vulnerable the national air travel system is when Atlanta faces winter weather disruptions. The airport needs robust infrastructure and resources to handle de-icing operations and weather-related challenges. Instead, more than 400 flights were cancelled in Atlanta alone, with over 2,800 cancellations nationwide as the disruptions cascaded through the national air travel system. FULL FACT SHEET HERE.
YEAR-LONG CAMPAIGN: 20% of FEMA staff have been slashed, critical emergency funds frozen, and FEMA attempted to cancel the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program—threatening $4.6 billion in flood mitigation funding since 2020. On top of that, leaked plans to eliminate 11,500 positions threaten to cut FEMA's already dwindling workforce in half.
DEVASTATED CAPACITY: On New Year's Eve, the Department of Homeland Security fired dozens of FEMA disaster workers without warning. The fired employees worked on Cadre of On-Call Response and Recovery (CORE) teams, an essential part of the agency that provides support for communities in the aftermath of disasters. DHS Secretary Noem now personally approves all CORE contract renewals.
POLITICIZING RELIEF: A recent analysis by Sabotaging Our Safety reveals Trump has approved disaster declarations for 78% of disasters in states he won in 2024 compared to just 33% in states he lost, abandoning communities after their homes are destroyed and their livelihoods decimated due to the political leanings of a state.
