Blowing up FEMA could be its own disaster

The frequency and intensity of climate disasters on and off Long Island keep pulling the essential role of the Federal Emergency Management Agency into the spotlight. Storms and flooding are so front-and-center now that it’s easy to forget what FEMA’s future role could be in any major fires, pandemics and plane crashes that may be in store.

FEMA began in 1979 under the Carter administration with the mission of coordinating disaster responses too big for state and local governments to handle. Degrees of success have varied. FEMA became part of the Department of Homeland Security in 2003 under the Bush administration. Two years later, the agency’s frustratingly slow response to Hurricane Katrina prompted widespread criticism. Emergency response, preparation and prevention add up to a sprawling national challenge that is getting more expensive. 

On a recent tour of flood and fire sites, President Donald Trump said in North Carolina, "FEMA has turned out to be a disaster," and, "I think we recommend that FEMA go away." What might "go away" mean? Killing the disaster-response agency invites its own disaster. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem acknowledged this when she explained: "We still need the resources and the funds and the finances to go to people who have these types of disasters like Hurricane Helene and the fires in California." 

But, Noem added, local officials should decide how to deploy the resources. Trump has ordered a six-month review and a report proposing "structural changes." 

STREAMLINING NEEDED

Yes, FEMA needs to change, to become more streamlined. It needs to untangle the gnarl of rules and regulations that slow aid payments, while also finding ways to detect fraud. Its reform should be a comprehensive, nonpartisan effort beginning as soon as practically possible.

The time is right for a thoughtful redefinition of the agency's precise role and tasks. One urgent example: the now-controversial use of FEMA during the Biden administration to assist states in coping with the migrant influx. The White House's sudden clawback of $80 million in FEMA funds paid to New York commands headlines and will be litigated. It also beckons debate over how to spell out FEMA's future scope.

Depending on how the funding fight breaks, Long Island's House delegation could soon face pressure to guard New York's emergency priorities regardless of party.

The conservative Heritage Foundation’s "Project 2025” report suggested narrowing FEMA's role to aiding states where disasters strike. The report calls for Congress to authorize capping the costs for "truly catastrophic disasters" at 75%. Right now, that is the minimum share the feds must absorb.

Reducing the federal share, by itself, won't bring the kind of change bipartisan critics around the country have been demanding. That would take talented management and coordination.

Funds must not be distributed based on partisan or regional bias. That's key when the White House, Senate and House are controlled top-down by a single party.

Democratic Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont said he agrees with Trump on the need for "serious reform" at FEMA. "But," he recently wrote in a published commentary, "to do away with it completely would be a disaster for red and blue states alike."

Welch hailed past FEMA responses, saying, "What needs to change is the agency’s long-term recovery process, which kicks in months after the floodwaters recede."

MONEY FOR LONG ISLAND

FEMA looms large on Long Island, as data collated by Newsday’s editorial board shows. Over FEMA’s 46 years, the Island has received an estimated $6.36 billion in disaster relief via the agency through flood insurance claims, individual and public housing assistance, and help in rebuilding infrastructure to mitigate the risks of future disasters.

That includes elevated houses, seawalls, sewer repairs, debris clearance, and the renovation of destroyed recreation areas. The broader picture: New York had the second-highest disaster assistance by state at $1,326 per capita, behind Louisiana, according to analysis from Rebuild by Design, which was launched by the Department of Housing and Urban Development in the wake of Superstorm Sandy.

Of 38 disasters declared in Nassau and Suffolk counties, at least 27 have been hurricane-, flood- or storm-related. Since 1978, Long Islanders have received $2.95 billion for building damage alone via claims to FEMA’s flood insurance program, and an additional $411.68 million for loss of personal belongings.

Nearly a quarter of the $2.18 billion allocated to New York State through FEMA’s hazard mitigation program is estimated to have been granted to fund projects on Long Island for damage prevention.

FEMA became a sprawling bureaucracy because, in peacetime these days, its work becomes timely and urgent — perhaps comparable with that of the military. That’s one reason FEMA operations can be slow and unwieldy.

Going forward, the president, Congress and the states should remember the basics — that saving money and off-loading federal responsibility are one thing, honest progress another. Taking down or defunding a generally functional agency without a good replacement may look attractive — until the results for the people are considered.