Overview
- The FEMA Review Council’s public meeting to present and vote on final recommendations was canceled minutes before it was to begin, with DHS directing questions to the White House.
- Sources say White House officials objected after reviewing the leaked draft, which proposes cutting FEMA’s workforce by 50%, raising aid thresholds, and rebranding as “FEMA 2.0.”
- The unpublished plan would keep FEMA within the Department of Homeland Security, deliver state block grants within 30 days of major disaster declarations, and consolidate survivor aid into a capped direct payment.
- Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem left a House hearing to co-chair the meeting and appeared unaware of the cancellation, underscoring internal process tensions.
- Many changes would require congressional or regulatory action, and a separate bipartisan FEMA Act advancing in the House would instead make FEMA independent with its own block grant approach.