The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has released draft legislation to solicit feedback on ways to revamp the Federal Emergency Management Agency without abolishing it altogether. The May 8 release of the bipartisan legislative language was nearly overshadowed by other events in a week in which the beleaguered agency came under attack.

Acting FEMA Administrator Cam Hamilton was fired shortly after telling a congressional oversight committee May 7 that the agency should continue to exist. A day earlier, Dept. of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem reiterated Trump’s calls for the agency to be abolished, stating that FEMA had “failed the American people, and that FEMA as it exists today should be eliminated.” 

In response to Noem’s comments, an irate Rosa DeLaura (D-Conn.), ranking member of the full Appropriations Committee, said, “States will never have the [necessary] amount of money, because the federal government isn’t going to pass that money to the states to be able to deal with what happens when it comes in. I think it’s very clear … that both yourself and the president really want to dismantle the federal government and the agencies that have provided service to the American people for decades.” 

A FEMA spokesperson confirmed that Hamilton was terminated but did not give a reason. Hamilton’s replacement, David Richardson, has no emergency management experience, according to news reports. 

In his congressional testimony, Hamilton highlighted ways he hoped to revamp the agency, but he also said, “As the senior advisor to the president on disasters and emergency management, and to the secretary of Homeland Security, I do not believe it is in the best interest of the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency.”  

Lawmakers Seek Reform

Although the Trump administration has called for the dismantling of the agency, lawmakers seem reluctant to do so. Earlier this year, lawmakers expressed frustration with inefficiencies at the agency, but stopped short of calling for its abolishment.  

Shana Udvardy, senior climate resilience policy analyist for the Union of Concerned Scientists, says the Transportation and Infrastructure committee’s legislative draft demonstrates “a strong support for FEMA” to continue as an agency. 

The legislation calls for pulling FEMA out of DHS and elevating it back to an independent cabinet-level agency, as it was during the Clinton administration. It also would simplify the application processes for aid, streamline permitting requirements and replace the current system for federal reimbursement with project-based grants, giving states and local governments more authority to direct how funds are spent. 

In a statement, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair Sam Graves (R-Mo.) said, “We have clearly seen that FEMA is not working as it should for Americans who’ve been impacted by disasters. Congress has passed FEMA reforms over the years, but it simply hasn’t been enough.” But T&I Committee Ranking member Rick Larsen (R-Wash.), who co-authored the draft legislation with Graves, described FEMA as the “last line of defense” for many communities. “Republican and Democrats on this Committee agree that it is an important agency in need of reform,” he said in a statement. 

A T&I committee staffer said the administration has made clear it wants to find a “better way to support states taking the lead on disaster response and management, and we believe the discussion draft legislation helps to do that. So we’re looking forward to seeing the feedback we get.” 

Bipartisan Efforts on the Ground

John Anglis, business development director for Branch Construction in Yancey County, N.C., has been working on emergency response efforts following Hurricane Helene last September, first clearing debris, and now rebuilding critical infrastructure and roads, including a $250-million progressive design-build highway project on a 12-mile stretch of Highway 19W. Although the project was procured by the  North Carolina Dept. of Transportation, the funds come from the federal government.

“We need the [federal] recovery funds,” Anglis told ENR. “We can’t recover on our own as a county, as a state.”

Although the federal reimbursement process can be “aggravatingly slow,” Anglis notes that he has seen bipartisan collaboration among federal, state and local leaders on the ground following the storm’s devastation. “I know the political atmosphere can be tense, but … I’m pleased to see … a bipartisan effort, to see it through.” 

The Union of Concerned Scientists’ Udvardy notes that it’s unclear whether the administration will follow through on its threats. Despite the rancor of Trump, Noem and other officials, the Trump administration has set up a FEMA Review Council that includes some members who have significant emergency management experience, she says. The council is chaired by Dept. of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Noem.

“The really frustrating thing for communities and state and local governments is that [the federal dollars are] money that they have been relying on,” she says. “To get a project accepted takes so much effort, takes so much time and planning … and then to have a project pulled out from under their feet, it’s just unthinkable.”