States are likely to face even greater challenges in providing timely disaster response and recovery aid to communities if further staffing cuts are ordered for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a former agency official told ENR.
The agency, known as FEMA, which lost more than 2,000 jobs last year through layoffs and voluntary incentives, will let the contracts of 1,000 of its Core Response/Recovery Employees (CORE) expire at the end of January, according to media reports. The New York Times reported that it obtained an administrative document from FEMA’s parent, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, calling for the elimination of up to 50 percent of positions at the agency.
States with disaster and recovery projects currently underway will likely face significant slowdowns if designated CORE workers have to walk off the job because their contracts are not renewed, the official said. Fewer FEMA staff will be available to interact with state and local authorities, helping them move projects through the system and obtain reconstruction reimbursement.
The move follows President Donald Trump’s announcement at the start of the 2025 hurricane season in June that he planned to phase out the disaster relief agency and give state and local governments more responsibility.
FEMA did not respond to a request for comment.
The former FEMA official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that while the administration is focused on fiscal responsibility, it is unrealistic and inefficient for states to pool their own resources and essentially take over the federal agency’s work because they do not have the same economies of scale and cannot maximize support through a centralized logistics system.
The situation “is really problematic” because more than half of the workforce consists of disaster workers who are paid by the disaster recovery fund and are vital to a seamless disaster response, the official said. About half of these employees are reservists called up during disasters, and about half are CORE employees working in specialized roles, including managing recovery programs. They serve for terms of two to four years, but many have renewed their contracts to work in progress for years, the official said.
“These positions require a lot of training and time on the job and understanding how the system works,” the official said. “If their contracts are not renewed indiscriminately, it will decrease the assistance available to people affected by disasters and lead to the loss of critical skills and knowledge that will be difficult to restore.”
Chad Berginnis, executive director of the Association of State Floodplain Managers, said CORE employees play a critical role in disaster response and are used extensively in the field.
While the group advocates for state and local governments to play an important role in disaster recovery, “the fact is that what FEMA is ultimately asking is for state and local governments to basically take full responsibility for implementing programs” that they are not equipped to do, Berginnis said.
He pointed to the agency’s rollback in funding for major mitigation programs last year, including the cancellation of its Building Resilient Communities and Infrastructure program. Additionally, the president has not awarded any hazard mitigation grant program requests since last March, he said.
“There’s not a good explanation for why this is happening, even with the general idea of more targeting in states and communities,” Berginnis said. “At the end of the day, the disaster assistance programs that FEMA administers need the staff to help get disaster aid to survivors in a timely manner, and these cuts are going to make that more difficult, without question. … The reality is that you need boots on the ground to help make these programs work.”
A major frustration with FEMA in the past year has been its lack of official communication with stakeholders, Berginnis said. “Communications have almost stopped from the very agency whose primary mission is to coordinate with state and local agencies and other entities,” he said. “It’s incredibly frustrating because we don’t hear, or even understand, any logical framework or approach that the administration is taking right now.”
Berginnis said Congress appropriated funds for FEMA in fiscal year 2025 and is preparing to appropriate funds for fiscal year 2026.
“Congress is saying, ‘Wait a minute, Mr. President,'” Berginnis said. “Why are you not implementing the programs and funding that we have authorized you to do?”
Towards a partial government shutdown
The House narrowly passed a Department of Homeland Security funding bill on Jan. 22 that includes an 18 percent increase in FEMA’s budget.
The Senate was expected to consider the department’s spending bill the week of Jan. 26 as part of a funding package for departments as well. of Defence, Transport and Housing and Urban Planning. Although the Senate was poised to pass the bill, the Jan. 24 fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti in Minneapolis by agents of the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, also a national security unit, following the Jan. 7 death of Renee Good at the hands of those agents, has raised concerns in Congress and cast doubt on the government’s partial approval.
The bill is the last of the annual funding bills to pass the House. So far, the House and Senate have passed several of the 12 bills that need to pass.
Several Democratic leaders have said they will block the department’s spending bill, including Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.); Democrat Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and member of the Senate Appropriations Committee; and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), vice chair of the Appropriations Committee.
Schumer said Senate Democrats would not provide the votes needed to allow the bill to move forward if the Department of Homeland Security were included. “I will NOT support the DHS bill as it stands,” Murray said in a post on X. “The DHS bill must be separated from the larger funding package before the Senate — Republicans must work with us to do that. I will continue to fight to rein in DHS and ICE.”
Republicans will need at least a few Democratic defectors to advance the bill. At press time, several Republicans expressed outrage at the killing, with some calling for an investigation.
In September, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved bipartisan FEMA reform legislation that would, among other things, eliminate the agency from the department and elevate its administrator to a cabinet position.
