WATCH: Disaster Preparedness Experts, Florida Rep. Nixon & Florida Leaders Discuss How Trump and DeSantis Are Failing Florida as Hurricane Season Looms
TALLAHASSEE, FL — As Florida braces for another hurricane season, Sabotaging Our Safety hosted a press call with former FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, Florida State Representative and Executive Director of Florida for All Angie Nixon, Colonel Darren McAuley, and former Florida State Senator and Assistant Secretary of Labor José Javier Rodríguez. The call came as nearly 200 current and former FEMA employees signed a letter warning that Trump is gutting disaster response.
With Florida facing an “above-normal” hurricane season and homeowners insurance costs skyrocketing, speakers outlined how Trump’s budget cuts are endangering Floridians. Florida leaders discussed how Trump has gutted disaster preparedness funding by slashing FEMA staff and canceling programs that protect communities from hurricanes and floods.
“In the 20 years following Hurricane Katrina's devastation, the federal government has strived to improve its ability to support people before, during, and after disasters, and I fear that we're forgetting these lessons,” said Deanne Criswell, former Administrator of FEMA. “We now see an agency that doesn't have a Senate-confirmed position, and we have an acting administrator that doesn't have any emergency management experience. We see additional layers of administrative burdens that are slowing down the ability to move those necessary resources to help those communities.”
“We're already at a breaking point where one thing gone wrong can actually mean the difference between making it through the day and losing everything with nowhere to go. Republicans in Washington and in Tallahassee are making sure that even in times of a natural disaster, when a government is supposed to be there for us, we'll be left to fend for ourselves,” said State Rep. Angie Nixon, Executive Director of Florida for All. “We are witnessing FEMA assistance cut by the Trump administration, and we really need that during hurricane season. We're in the middle of hurricane season, and it's going to leave communities left to fend for themselves when disaster strikes. Not only that, but we are dealing with the governor who has continually vetoed millions of appropriations for things like flood barriers as well as emergency facilities and stormwater improvements, specifically in areas where there are low-income people.”
“FEMA cuts are a disaster tax on Florida families when we can least afford it. They will drive up costs, and insurance companies will take full advantage — hitting people in their pockets and bank accounts,” said Col. Darren McAuley, Florida State Air Surgeon. “As someone who has deployed to multiple hurricanes, I know the most deaths and the worst health consequences come after the storm. Cutting FEMA means cutting the very resources that keep families safe and communities whole.”
“This mass detention center in the Everglades is a disastrous, expensive, lawless, and cruel political stunt that diverts disaster preparedness funding and leaves us less safe,” said former Florida State Senator and Assistant Secretary of Labor José Javier Rodríguez. “They claimed they would focus immigration policy on people who posed a threat to the community, but that is overwhelmingly not what they’ve done.”
Full recording of the call is available here.
###
