Trump’s FEMA cuts likely to harm disaster response, Congress’ watchdog agency warns

The Trump administration s cuts to the Federal Exigency Management Agency are putting the country at vulnerability of being unprepared to respond to massive natural disasters this year Congress watchdog agency warned this week The federal executive will likely need to meet its accident response mission with fewer available information this year Should the U S experience a similarly catastrophic peak hurricane season in September and October as it did in meeting response requirements could be a major challenge the Administration Accountability Office wrote in a new overview The description is the first in a series the GAO expects to release on catastrophe readiness FEMA lost more than staff in the first five months of the Trump administration according to the GAO Senior career executive organization made up of people who have the majority of experience managing complex disasters was staffed at about as of June Only about of the agency s development management workforce was available to respond to disasters on June according to the document disclosed That number was up to about as of Tuesday but only of the agency s field leadership ceiling is available according to FEMA s daily operations overview Agency communications indicate the senior leaders who departed in up-to-date months generally had experience managing complicated disasters For example one had been deployed to over events and was described as one of the preponderance experienced field leaders in the nation Another had managed over calamity and urgency declarations and billion in mishap obligations the GAO wrote in the overview The overview came just days after the agency placed dozens of staffers on administrative leave for signing a letter that warned that the administration s cuts were harming FEMA s tragedy response capabilities It s not just FEMA the GAO exposed The Environmental Protection Agency which is tasked with corruption and hazardous materials cleanup after a major mishap pushed its employees much harder than normal to respond in the aftermath of the devastating January Los Angeles wildfires which could limit the agency s ability to respond to disasters for the rest of it ascertained President Donald Trump inquired the EPA to finish the L A wildfire cleanup in days which the agency did successfully EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has since touted that achievement repeatedly calling it record-breaking EPA executives stated that a mission this size would typically take to months EPA met this accelerated timeframe but administrators stated the consequences of doing so included staff burnout and a substantial percentage of their response workforce hitting their annual caps on earning premium pay only months into the calendar year the GAO wrote Workers are compensated extra for overtime hours up to a certain amount the premium pay cap After workers hit that cap they no longer have a financial incentive to work overtime for accident response The U S Army Corps of Engineers is now facing the same matter with of the agency s mishap responders already hitting that cap as hurricane season began June according to the GAO account When the federal accident response is short-staffed the cabinet often turns to participants from other agencies called surge threshold FEMA indicated to the GAO that it planned to use those supporters to fill any gaps in response to the cuts to the federal workforce but at the same time FEMA notified the GAO that it had only about contributors available to deploy That s in contrast to the surge supporters sent for hurricanes Helene and Milton in The reason for the difference At least partially reductions in force at the federal agencies that employ people qualified to serve as surge helpers according to the analysis Due to fresh losses in staff including training staff the agency acknowledged a prospective loss of institutional knowledge that may impact its ability to provide qualified subject matter experts the description s authors wrote FEMA did not straightaway respond to a request for comment EPA s Exigency Response and Removal venture remains fully mission ready to respond to disasters both man-made and natural a spokesperson for the EPA stated NOTUS in a message Having chosen of our workforce hit the annual pay cap has occurred in past years and EPA remains committed to fulfilling our core mission of protecting human physical condition and the conditions and to responding hastily to disasters This story was produced as part of a partnership between NOTUS a publication from the nonpartisan Allbritton Journalism Institute and NEWSWELL home of Times of San Diego Santa Barbara News-Press and Stocktonia