ICYMI: Trump Overruled His Own FEMA Field Offices To Deny Disaster Aid To Four Democratic-Led States
Emails and internal documents show regional FEMA and NOAA officials had already validated the damage before the White House said no
WASHINGTON, DC — POLITICO reported today that President Trump personally overrode his own agencies to deny disaster aid to four Democratic-led states this year, even after FEMA's regional offices and NOAA had already validated that each state's damage exceeded the federal threshold to qualify.
A former FEMA official who worked under both parties said they could not recall another instance of a state being denied after meeting FEMA and NOAA's own standards.
"FEMA's own experts validated this damage. The president looked at their work and threw it out because the governors are Democrats,” said Sabotaging Our Safety Advisory Council member Rafael Lemaitre. “Disaster aid should never depend on politics.”
More from POLITICO.
“The emails and documents, which haven’t previously been reported, shed new light on Trump’s decisions to reject an overwhelming number of requests for disaster aid from Democratic-led states, even as he has approved nearly 90 percent of requests from states that are governed by members of his own party. The revelations also offer a fuller picture of Trump’s tenure over the most partisan distribution of FEMA aid since the agency was created in 1979.
Trump’s recent rejections involving snow diverge from the actions of other presidents, including Trump in his first term, who routinely approved similar requests from governors of opposing parties.
Presidents since George W. Bush approved all 69 state requests for snow assistance that met FEMA standards except for a 2016 request from New Mexico, which was being investigated for mishandling FEMA funds, according to a POLITICO analysis of agency records.
The four states sought $227 million in aid altogether after the paralyzing February storm dumped record snowfall over areas of the East Coast, leading to unprecedented snow-removal costs. POLITICO obtained the emails and state documents through open records requests submitted to New Jersey, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. New York officials said federal agencies also validated their request for aid, but POLITICO could not independently confirm that…
“Without that aid, our local governments will be stuck with the costs of an unprecedented snowstorm that didn’t care about political boundaries,” New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said in a statement to POLITICO.”
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