Trump Launches FEMA Reform Taskforce to Restore Power to States

President Donald Trump has taken decisive action to fix what he calls a “terribly broken” emergency management system by launching a new FEMA Review Council, aimed at stripping back bloated federal control and empowering state-level emergency responders.

Announced Monday, the taskforce includes a powerhouse lineup of conservative leaders such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, Governors Greg Abbott and Glenn Youngkin, former Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant, RNC Chair Michael Whatley, and Tampa Mayor Jane Castor.

“I know that the new Members will work hard to fix a terribly broken System, and return power to State Emergency Managers,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN.”

The move follows Trump’s January executive order designed to reform FEMA from top to bottom. His plan? Return responsibility to the states where local leaders understand their communities best while the federal government supports, not controls, disaster response.

Trump has long criticized FEMA’s ineffective and politicized behavior, and recent scandals only bolstered his argument. His executive order even cited a Daily Wire report detailing how FEMA officials allegedly instructed workers in Florida to skip over homes displaying Trump signs in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton. This wasn’t just incompetence — it was deliberate bias.

“There are serious concerns of political bias in FEMA,” the order states. “At least one former FEMA responder has stated that FEMA managers directed her to avoid homes of individuals supporting the campaign of Donald J. Trump for President.”

Key goals of the FEMA Review Council include:

• Surveying states and disaster stakeholders to assess FEMA’s effectiveness.

• Developing proposals to return emergency powers to the states, ending DC micromanagement.

• Delivering a comprehensive report on how disasters were managed before FEMA existed and how things can improve post-reform.

This is vintage Trump: bold leadership, results-driven reform, and putting America First by trusting state and local leaders instead of unelected bureaucrats in Washington.

Michael Whatley, who now leads the RNC, summed it up best:

“I have seen first-hand the incredible work of the Trump Administration to help the region recover from Hurricane Helene and look forward to working with these great leaders to bring much-needed reforms to federal emergency response across the country.”

Unlike the Biden-era FEMA which let political vendettas compromise life-saving aid Trump’s new approach is about restoring trust, competence, and fairness.

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