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Jump to: 2018; 2019;
2020;
-- 2017 --
January 5:
Trump’s big FEMA decision
As the agency’s lauded director steps down, Trump
must carefully consider a replacement
https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/59574a/trump-may-want-to-study-how-obama-made-fema-great-again
January 25: “I’m begging FEMA for boots on
the ground”: Donald Trump leaves GOP leaders begging for aid after deadly storms
in the South
Red state governors in Mississippi and Georgia complain they’ve been waiting for
a response from Trump for days
Nearly two dozen people have been confirmed dead in the aftermath of massive
storms that hit three Southern states over the weekend. And while President
Donald Trump was
signing an executive order freezing hiring for all federal employees during
his first "day of action," the governors of affected red states have been
begging for assistance from the federal government.
https://www.salon.com/2017/01/25/im-begging-fema-for-boots-on-the-ground-donald-trump-leaves-gop-leaders-begging-for-aid-after-deadly-storms-in-the-south/
February 3: FEMA Disaster Deductible Could Survive Trump Deregulation
Drive
https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2017/02/03/440881.htm
March 8: President Trump proposes major cuts
to USCG,FEMA
Cuts would help border security, building wall
https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/region-tampa/president-trump-proposes-major-cuts-to-uscgfema
March 31: New York City Worries Over Trump’s
Proposed $667 Million Cut to FEMA
http://observer.com/2017/03/new-york-city-trump-budget-fema-cuts/
June 2: FEMA and NOAA
Face Hurricane Season Without New Leaders in Place
The two agencies most important to predicting and managing weather-related
disasters face budget cuts and temporary bosses.
https://www.snopes.com/news/2017/06/02/fema-noaa-hurricane-season/
June 6: Former FEMA director: Trump is a
'catastrophic event'
https://www.argusleader.com/story/blogs/danaferguson/2016/06/06/former-fema-director-trump-catastrophic-event/85510198/
June 21: The Senate has confirmed the
nomination of President Donald Trump's pick to lead the Federal Emergency
Management Agency.
The vote was 95-4 on Tuesday for Brock Long. He previously ran Alabama's
Emergency Management Agency and served as that state's on-scene incident
commander during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.
Long takes over the agency at the beginning of hurricane season, as the Gulf
Coast prepares for Tropical Storm Cindy. The agency has already managed 41
disaster declarations this year and the Trump administration has proposed
cutting nearly $1 billion from the agency's budget.
More than $500 million in proposed cuts would come from FEMA's grant programs,
including the grants for pre-disaster mitigation efforts.
http://www.wkrg.com/news/senate-confirms-trumps-pick-to-head-fema/867805794
August 23:
Trump FEMA Chief Supports Cutting Coverage for Flood-Prone Homes
Brock Long, who was confirmed in June as the administrator at the
Federal Emergency Management Agency, said taxpayers shouldn’t be on the hook for
homes that keep flooding, and the threshold for triggering federal public
assistance after a disaster might be too low. He also expressed support for an
Obama administration idea to make local governments pay more when a hurricane or
flood hits.
While some of these changes will require action from Congress, the imprimatur of
FEMA’s administrator could give them a boost as lawmakers face a deadline at the
end of the September to rewrite the federal flood insurance program. Even
without legislation, FEMA says it could shift the initial costs for disaster
relief to local or state governments.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-23/trump-fema-chief-supports-cutting-coverage-for-flood-prone-homes
August 25: The first big hurricane of
Trump’s presidency will be managed by Obama-era officials
Hurricane Harvey is expected to make landfall on the upper Texas coast
Friday night, bringing “life-threatening and devastating” flooding,
according to US government warnings. Mandatory evacuation notices have already
been issued to residents of
several counties.
The Trump White House has not done much to prepare for the storm, however. Two
of the three politically appointed positions in the over-9,000-employee FEMA
have yet to be filled by Trump appointees; the same goes with the top position
at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which monitors storms.
Even the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, doesn’t have a
permanent secretary, after John F. Kelly left to become White House chief of
staff on July 31.
https://qz.com/1061829/hurricane-harvey-the-first-big-hurricane-of-trumps-presidency-will-be-handled-by-obama-officials/
August 29: President Trump on Tuesday, while
visiting Texas in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, praised government
officials for their response to the natural disaster. In particular, he noted
how FEMA administrator Brock Long “has really become very famous on television
over the last couple of days.” Trump ran through the list of federal officials
who traveled with him to Texas, including Health and Human Services Secretary
Tom Price and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-praises-fema-director-he-became-very-famous-on-television
August 30: After Harvey, Jewish Leaders Hope
Trump Will Lift Bar on FEMA Aid to Synagogues
Government rules could bar Houston's synagogues from receiving government
rebuilding grants that are available to other not-for-profits
https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/jewish-leaders-hope-trump-will-lift-bar-on-fema-aid-to-synagogues-1.5446997
September 13: Trump FEMA Nominee [Daniel
Craig] Withdraws After NBC Questions on Falsified Records
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-fema-nominee-withdraws-after-nbc-questions-falsified-records-n800856
September 13: Trump approves greater FEMA
aid for 37 Florida counties
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/weather/hurricane/os-hurricane-irma-damage-orange-20170912-story.html
September 15: Democrats ask: How could Trump
have nominated this man for FEMA?
After the sudden withdrawal this week of President Donald Trump's nominee for a
top post at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Senate Democrats are
raising concerns about the White House's vetting process.
"The White House may have thought, 'Well, no one will pay any attention to this
— this will be ignored.' Obviously, it was not ignored," said Sen. Tom Carper,
D-Del., a member of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee,
which had been considering Daniel A. Craig's nomination for the No. 2 spot at
FEMA.
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/09/15/democrats-ask-how-could-trump-have-nominated-this-man-for-fema/23211264/
September 26: Trump Praises FEMA for “Really
Good Job” in Puerto Rico ... Addressing the crisis five
days after a hurricane devastated the island, Trump is making the Katrina
comparisons easy.
Distracted, perhaps, by his multi-day
feud with the National Football League, it took
Donald Trump five full days to respond to the rapidly escalating
crisis in Puerto Rico, where millions are without power or potable water after
Hurricane Maria decimated the island. On Monday night, the president finally
tackled the issue on Twitter in characteristically Trumpian fashion—appearing to
blame the islanders, all U.S. citizens, for their affliction. “Texas & Florida
are doing great but Puerto Rico, which was already suffering from broken
infrastructure & massive debt, is in deep trouble,” he wrote in a series of
posts. “It’s [sic] old electrical grid, which was in terrible shape, was
devastated. Much of the Island was destroyed, with billions of dollars owed to
Wall Street and the banks which, sadly, must be dealt with. Food, water and
medical are top priorities - and doing well. #FEMA.”
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/09/trump-praises-fema-for-really-good-job-in-puerto-rico
October 6:
FEMA Deletes Information About Lack of Water and Electricity in
Puerto Rico
The FEMA website has been an important tool for keeping Americans up to date on
disaster recovery efforts in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. But yesterday,
the agency deleted statistics about how many people have access to electricity
and clean water on the island. The FEMA website now only displays information
that casts the recovery efforts in a
positive light.
On Wednesday, just 5 percent of Puerto Rico had electricity and only 50 percent
had water. That information was readily available on the FEMA website as late as
Wednesday night. But now it’s gone, while more positive information, like
statistics about the percentage of hospitals open (92 percent) and the
percentage of grocery stores open (65 percent), are still being
made available.
https://gizmodo.com/fema-deletes-information-about-lack-of-water-and-electr-1819208345
October 12: With 80% of Puerto Rico still
without power, Trump says FEMA can't stay 'forever'
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2017/10/12/trump-warning-we-cant-keep-fema-puerto-rico-forever/756926001/
October 16: Clinton FEMA Director Praises
Trump’s Hurricane Response - Including for Puerto Rico
Despite the criticism
that President Donald Trump has received over his handling of hurricane relief
efforts in Puerto Rico, the Clinton administration’s FEMA director, James Lee
Witt, thinks Trump and his team deserve an “A+” - a fact that Trump pointed out
during a press conference in the White House Rose Garden Monday.
Witt
told the Washington Post that he would give the federal government response
to the hurricane - including Puerto Rico - the highest grade. [Notes:
CNSNews.com (formerly known as Cybercast News Service) is a politically
conservative American news and commentary website]
[See October 19 correction]
https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/melanie-arter/clinton-fema-director-praises-trumps-hurricane-response-including-puerto
October 19: Fmr. FEMA
Dir. Says Trump ‘Expanded Truth’ On ‘A+’ Maria Response:
Shortly after the initial
responses to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma in Florida and Texas, I was asked if I
would give the Trump Administration and FEMA an A+ for those responses. I said I
would, on both hurricanes. This was prior to hurricane Maria in Puerto Rica and
the Virgin Islands. Even today, it is yet to be determined whether the ultimate
response to that hurricane will get an A, C or F or something else. As time goes
by that will become apparent.
http://miami.cbslocal.com/2017/10/19/exclusive-trump-expanded-truth-on-maria-response-says-former-fema-director/
November 6: Chef José Andrés And The Trump
Administration Are Fighting Over Puerto Rico
FEMA says Andrés is no longer working with them on the island because he's a
"businessman" who wanted a contract through 2017. Andrés said anyone who says he
was just trying to make a buck "should be ashamed of themselves."
Celebrity chef José Andrés has helped cook and deliver 2.2 million meals in
Puerto Rico since Hurricane Maria flattened the island, at one point cranking
out 150,000 meals a day. But while his effort has been
loudly praised across the country, the Trump administration, which awarded
him two contracts through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has been
curiously quiet on his efforts as they wound down.
That's in part because the administration, which has had a contentious
relationship with Andrés, sees a different picture.
An official with FEMA told BuzzFeed News the agency has been disappointed by
Andrés' public comments about the paralysis of bureaucracy and pace of recovery.
Andrés, the official said, is a "colorful guy who gets a lot of exposure" and "a
businessman looking for stuff to promote his business."
https://www.buzzfeed.com/adriancarrasquillo/chef-jose-andres-and-the-trump-administration-are-fighting?utm_term=.ctM4RYj5x#.jsMnpQ73L
December 8: Trump Declares State of
Emergency in Calif., FEMA Will Fund Most Costs for Firefighting Efforts
President Donald J. Trump
declared a state of emergency in California, ordering federal assistance to
local and state governments to help combat wildfires and alleviate emergency
conditions.
The Thomas Fire is burning across 132,000 acres with 10 percent containment,
according to the Ventura County Fire Department.
http://dailynexus.com/2017-12-08/trump-declares-state-of-emergency-in-calif-fema-will-fund-most-costs-for-firefighting-efforts/
-- 2018 --
January 4:
In a shift, Trump administration says houses of worship can apply
for FEMA funding for Hurricane Harvey relief
https://www.washingtonpost.com/
January 31: Trump Tells Puerto Rico ‘We Love
You’ as FEMA Cuts Off Food and Water Aid to Island
“A third of Puerto Rico still lacks electricity. Many do not have running water.
But FEMA will ‘officially shut off’ tomorrow,”
wrote activist Erin Schrode on Facebook Tuesday. Schrode is COO of World
Central Kitchen, who is leading the #ChefsForPuertoRico project with chef José
Andrés to distribute millions of meals on the island.
http://www.newsweek.com/trump-tells-puerto-rico-we-love-you-fema-cuts-food-water-aid-island-795928
January 31: FEMA
Reverses Decision to End Puerto Rico Aid After Trump Celebrates Support for
Puerto Rico in SOTU ... the Wednesday shutdown date had been “mistakenly
provided” and that FEMA is in fact still in the process of deciding when it will
wind down operations.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/01/fema-reverses-puerto-rico-aid-shutdown-after-trump-sotu.html
February 6: In the aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina, Congress launched a bipartisan investigation into how the Bush
administration’s response had fallen so fatally short. That probe found, among
other things, that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had neglected to line
up potential contractors in preparation for a major natural disaster — an
oversight that led FEMA to rely on wasteful, fraudulent, or inefficient partners
once the levees broke.
Now, some on Capitol Hill are beginning to suspect that FEMA made the same error
under Trump, in the run-up to last year’s devastating hurricane season. Cause
for such concerns isn’t hard to find. In November, the
Associated
Press revealed that the agency paid a single firm $30 million for emergency
tarps and plastic sheeting — none of which was ever delivered.
The federal government had time to deploy satellite phones to the island, to
avoid the communications blackout that isolated remote areas from the
territory’s government. It could have delivered reserves of food, fuel, and
water in advance of the storm, allowing local officials to spread those vital
resources throughout the territory before Maria lay waste to much of its
trucking infrastructure. Instead, the president did almost nothing in the
lead-up to the storm — and
went on a four-day golf vacation in its immediate aftermath.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/02/trumps-failure-in-puerto-rico-was-even-worse-than-we-knew.html
February 11: The U.S. Department of Homeland
Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced today that
federal emergency aid has been made available to the territory of American Samoa
to supplement territory and local response efforts due to the emergency
conditions in the area affected by Tropical Storm Gita beginning on February 7,
2018, and continuing.
https://www.fema.gov/news-release/2018/02/11/president-donald-j-trump-signs-emergency-declaration-american-samoa
February 13: A FEMA emergency response
team is in Sacramento working with California officials, and the agency will
supply 150,000 bottles of water, 20,000 blankets and 10,000 cots to the state,
FEMA officials said Monday.
“We activated to ensure we’re postured to rapidly respond to any needs that
California may have to protect life and property,” acting FEMA administrator
Ahsha Tribble said in a statement. “We encourage residents in the affected to
area to follow the direction of local authorities, and if told to stay out of
evacuated areas, please do so.”
https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/2017/02/13/oroville-dam-fema-trump/97868628/
March 16: With FEMA facing its deepest
scrutiny in more than a decade, the government watchdog in charge of measuring
the agency's performance is no longer assessing its initial response to
disasters.
The decision by the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector
General to no longer issue preliminary reports comes as the watchdog
took the extraordinary step last week of pulling a dozen largely positive
assessments of the Obama administration's initial response to several
disasters.
Acting DHS Inspector General John V. Kelly said the reports, pulled last week
from the IG's web site, didn't meet proper standards for a government audit.
"We were not confident that the evidence collected (in those reports) was
necessary to support the conclusion," Kelly said in an interview Thursday. "It
doesn't mean the conclusion was wrong (but) our standard is that it has to be
adequately supported. You can't say something without having the evidence even
if it's true."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/03/16/fema-watchdogs-decision-stop-issuing-initial-disaster-reports-means-no-preliminary-measure-repsonse/428976002/
March 16: The Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) announced that additional disaster assistance is available to the
Territory of the U.S. Virgin Islands through an extension of increased federal
funding, including direct federal assistance, to the Territory for debris
removal and emergency protective measures undertaken as a result of Hurricane
Irma beginning on September 5, 2017 and Hurricane Maria beginning on September
16, 2017.
https://www.fema.gov/news-release/2018/03/16/president-donald-j-trump-amends-us-virgin-islands-declaration
March 16: Trump's FEMA Ignores Climate
Change in Strategic Plan for Disaster Response
Under Obama, the Federal Emergency Management Agency emphasized climate risk.
The new plan fails to even mention the words 'climate change' or 'sea level
rise.'
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16032018/fema-strategic-plan-climate-change-natural-disasters-relief-flood-maps-storms-wildfires
March 27:
How Trump favored Texas over Puerto
Rico
A POLITICO investigation shows a persistent double standard in the president’s
handling of relief efforts for Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Maria.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/27/donald-trump-fema-hurricane-maria-response-480557
July 12: FEMA says in
report that it was underprepared for Hurricane Maria
The report backs up many of the criticisms that were leveled at the emergency
relief agency in the immediate aftermath of Maria, one of the worst natural
disasters to strike Puerto Rico in modern history.
The report found that FEMA was ill-equipped to respond to the hurricane,
following a series of storms that ravaged the Caribbean in the weeks prior.
For example, supplies were moved from a warehouse in San Juan, the territory's
capital, to the U.S. Virgin Islands after Hurricane Irma, creating "an immediate
deficit of commodities" in Puerto Rico when Maria hit weeks later.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/396819-in-new-report-fema-says-it-was-underprepared-for-hurricane-maria
September (undated): This is the main page
for up-to-date resources and information on the federal response to Hurricane
Florence (North Carolina, etc)
https://www.fema.gov/hurricane-florence
September 12:
Trump administration diverted nearly $10 million from FEMA to ICE detention
program, according to DHS document
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/09/12/document-shows-the-trump-administration-diverted-nearly-10-million-from-fema-to-ice-detention-program/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.59565e2f1fc2
September 13:
President Donald Trump's nominee for the No. 2 spot at the Federal Emergency
Management Agency withdrew from consideration on Wednesday after NBC News raised
questions about a federal investigation that found he had falsified government
travel and timekeeping records when he served in the Bush administration in
2005.
"Given the distraction this will cause the Agency in a time when they cannot
afford to lose focus, I have withdrawn from my nomination," the former nominee,
Daniel A. Craig, said in an email to NBC News.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-fema-nominee-withdraws-after-nbc-questions-falsified-records-n800856
September 15: FEMA to
test 'Presidential Alert' system next week
Experts expressed little concern that the wireless emergency alerts could be
used for political purposes.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/fema-test-presidential-alert-system-next-week-n909816
September 18: Trump can't use FEMA's
wireless alerts to send personal messages — it's illegal
Public concern around privacy and abuse of power is offset by legislation put
into place to deter any president from mishandling the alert system
Trump will also be unable to track the location of people or access personal
phone numbers through the system.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/trump-can-t-use-fema-s-wireless-alerts-send-personal-n910676
September 20: FEMA
Stopped Paying For Hotels For Displaced Puerto Ricans. Now Some Are Homeless.
Other Hurricane Maria evacuees who’ve since managed to get their own place are
teetering on the brink of homelessness.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hurricane-maria-displaced-puerto-ricans-fema-hotels_us_5ba17fcce4b04d32ebfda3cb
October 9:
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's FEMA announced today that federal
emergency aid has been made available to the state of Florida to supplement
state and local response efforts due to the emergency conditions in the area
affected by Hurricane Michael beginning on Oct. 7 and continuing.
https://www.fema.gov/news-release/2018/10/09/president-donald-j-trump-signs-emergency-declaration-florida
November
29: Trump gripes he gets ‘no credit’ for relief efforts in Puerto
Rico
President Trump says the amount of money the government spent on Puerto Rico
after Hurricane Maria is “beyond belief” and “has to be studied.”
https://nypost.com/2018/11/29/trump-gripes-he-gets-no-credit-for-relief-efforts-in-puerto-rico/
November 29: Congress Probes FEMA For Paying
Huge Markups On Puerto Rico Recovery Supplies
https://dailycaller.com/2018/11/29/michael-enzi-brock-long-fema-puerto-rico/
-- 2019 --
-- 2020 --
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