President Trump plans to tour damage on Friday from last year’s hurricanes in North Carolina and this month’s fires in California after saying that disaster response should be shifted from the federal government to the states.
In an interview on Fox News on Wednesday, the president criticized the performance of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “FEMA is going to be a whole big discussion very shortly,” he said. “I’d rather see the states take care of their own problems.”
Mr. Trump continued, “The FEMA is getting in the way of everything.” Referring to Oklahoma, he said: “If they get hit with a tornado or something, let Oklahoma fix it. You don’t need — and then the federal government can help them out with the money.”
Project 2025, the blueprint for a Republican administration that was produced by the Heritage Foundation, calls for flipping the financial burden of response to small disasters so that 75 percent is carried by states and the rest by the federal government. Russell Vought, the chief architect of Project 2025, is Mr. Trump’s pick to run the Office of Management and Budget, where he would significantly shape the federal budget.
Mr. Trump’s comments to Fox News left much unanswered, including how much of the cost of disasters he wants to place on states.
Fire-affected residents met with FEMA officials in Pasadena, Calif., on Jan. 14.Credit…Frederic J. Brown/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
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