Texas State Representative Calls on Governor Abbott to Withdraw Support from FEMA Review Council
"Governor Abbott, you are putting politics over the lives of Texans — and it needs to stop."
TEXAS — Yesterday, Texas State Representative Jon Rosenthal (District 135) sent a letter to Governor Greg Abbott demanding he withdraw his support from the Trump administration's FEMA Review Council and publicly oppose further cuts to FEMA's workforce and programs. The letter comes as hurricane season approaches and less than a year after the July 4, 2025 Kerr County floods claimed 135 Texan lives — a disaster in which FEMA missed 58% of emergency calls while survivors desperately sought help.
In the letter, Rep. Rosenthal reminds Governor Abbott that Texas is one of the largest beneficiaries of federal disaster aid, receiving an average of $1.4 billion per year from FEMA since 2015 which translates to roughly 1.8% of the state's entire budget. With Texas facing a $44 billion flood infrastructure gap and 2.1 million properties at risk of flooding over the next 30 years, the letter warns that the FEMA Review Council's recommendations to shrink key programs could prove catastrophic for the state.
“As a resident and Representative of Houston, I understand how vulnerable we are to natural disasters and how much we rely on federal assistance to recover,” said Rep. Rosenthal. “I hope Governor Abbott joins me in supporting this critical agency."
The letter reads: "Governor Abbott, you have sought FEMA assistance for Texas time and again — after Winter Storm Uri, after the Derecho, after Hurricane Beryl, Hurricane Harvey, and disaster after disaster. You understand the consequences when FEMA fails to show up."
"The people of Texas did not send you to Austin to dismantle a lifeline they depend on," it continues.
The letter details how the Trump administration has cycled through three FEMA administrators in just months, gutted the agency's workforce from 29,000 to 23,000 employees, and canceled key mitigation grant programs — leaving Kerr County, which had already twice been denied funding for a flood warning system, completely unprotected when disaster struck last summer. Emergency management experts have warned that replacing FEMA with state-run programs would multiply costs by 50 times — a burden Texas's balanced-budget requirement could not absorb without devastating cuts to schools, public safety, healthcare, and roads.
Rep. Rosenthal also highlights that research shows every $1 invested in pre-disaster mitigation saves up to $13 in recovery costs, yet Texas has left $225 million in federal mitigation grants on the table over the past decade.
Rep. Rosenthal is calling on Governor Abbott to withdraw support from the FEMA Review Council's recommendations, publicly oppose further cuts to FEMA's workforce and programs, and demand the federal government fulfill its obligations to Texans before the next disaster strikes.
A full copy of the letter is available here.
