FEMA Review Council Report, Like President Trump, Is Out of Touch with Reality

We are now a year and a half into the Trump administration’s damaging policies towards FEMA and climate research, with the FEMA Review Council offering recommendations that fail to meet the country’s emergency management requirements. Ideally, the President’s FEMA Review Council, created to provide suggestions for FEMA’s future, would promote strategic thinking on persistent issues highlighted in the Government Accountability Office (GAO) three-part series addressing workforce readiness, state and local response capabilities, and assistance for disaster survivors. Such strategic thinking was previously demonstrated by the Biden administration through the release of the White House National Resilience Strategy before President Biden left office. However, the report falls short in addressing crucial FEMA staffing and policy reforms.

The FEMA Review Council report is out of touch with current circumstances. We are dealing with three major crises: climate change-driven disasters, a shortage of affordable housing, and daily affordability issues, compounded by Trump’s authoritarian governance.

While this version of the council’s report improves upon the disastrous draft leaked last December under the leadership of former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, its proposals, if enacted, would significantly alter disaster aid, particularly affecting lower-income disaster survivors by reducing available resources. The report also advocates for privatizing federal flood insurance, increasing responsibilities like training for state, local, tribal, and territorial governments (SLTTs), and “rebalancing” FEMA’s workforce, leading to further staff reductions. Most of these recommendations would require congressional approval, which should be prevented.

The UCS opposes the ten recommendations in the FEMA Review Council report which, if enacted, would perpetuate the Trump administration’s detrimental approach of shifting the burden of disaster response onto SLTTs, leaving vulnerable populations with fewer resources. FEMA’s purpose is to support and coordinate with SLTTs, not to create 56 separate response and training entities.

The recommendations, as proposed, contain numerous flaws and contradictions, exacerbating inequalities for resource-limited households and communities, including communities of color and Tribal communities.

On behalf of UCS, I submitted a letter to the council, criticizing the exclusion of critical science-based contexts like climate change that heighten the risks faced by the US. You can read UCS’s full set of comments here, and below is a brief summary.

Climate change risk, administration’s FEMA cuts ignored

The report’s primary issue is its failure to recognize the risks and impacts of climate change or the need to invest in pre-disaster mitigation and adaptation. As of March 31, 2026, there have been five extreme weather and climate disasters each causing over a billion dollars in damages, resulting in 176 deaths and $12.4 billion in total economic losses. These events follow years of unprecedented climate impacts exacerbated by fossil-fueled climate change. Climate change:

• Intensified Hurricane Erin in August 2025, increasing it from a category 4 to a category 5 storm, with wind speeds up by 10 mph and water temperatures along its path warmed by 1.2°C.
• Boosted Hurricane Helene’s wind speed by 10 mph in September 2025, with waters 1.2°C warmer, and increased rainfall by at least 10% heavier.
• Made the mid-July 2025 heatwave three times more likely for nearly half the US population and the extensive mid-March heat wave this year three to five times more likely.
• Increased the Fire Weather Index by 6% for the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires (Palisades and Eaton wildfires), increasing the probability of wildfires by 35%.

The council’s recommendations failed to consider these harsh realities and the ongoing dismantling of FEMA by the Trump Administration. The past eighteen months’ chaos and consequences should have informed the final recommendations for FEMA’s future, considering the numerous destructive actions by President Trump, former DHS Secretary Noem, and three former Senior Officials Performing the Duties of the Administrator (SOPDA).

These damaging actions have included:

• Reducing FEMA’s workforce by one-third, resulting in a significant loss of senior expertise.
• Delaying and politicizing disaster assistance.
• Cancelling grant programs, only to have them reinstated through litigation.
• Disbanding FEMA’s national and technical advisory committees.
• Creating a work environment based on fear and retaliation.
• Slow-walking or withholding of Congressionally appropriated funds, among others.

Trump’s hand-picked council embraced disinformation

President Trump established the 12-member FEMA Review Council in January of the previous year through an executive order to develop this final report. The council held three publicly noticed meetings and experienced several dramatic moments and delays, including the leaked December 11, 2025 draft, a last-minute cancellation of a key meeting, and the extension of the council until ten days after the final report was submitted to the president or May 29, whichever came first.

The council released its final report at its last public meeting on May 7. Consistent with its pattern, the council opened the Federal Register for public comments just one week before the final meeting, leaving insufficient time for meaningful feedback. A total of 148 public comments were submitted by the June 8, 2026 deadline.

Numerous logistical issues plagued the council, ensuring its narrow vision and lack of detailed policy, including:

1. A small ten-member board (excluding board chairs DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth) lacking diversity.
2. Discouraging meaningful public input through misaligned timelines.
3. Violating the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which mandates publicly noticed meetings and documented proceedings.
4. Incorporating disinformation into the final report multiple times.

The council claimed that its recommendations and report messaging aligned with survey results. However, an examination of that survey in the report’s addendum reveals respondents’ support for a strong FEMA that assists SLTTs, the need to invest in pre-disaster mitigation, and the necessity for funding to support SLTTs, among others. This is not merely a contradiction between recommendations and survey results; it is a misrepresentation of the survey findings.

FEMA, Congress shouldn’t implement council’s recommendations

The next steps regarding the FEMA Review Council report’s implementation remain uncertain. As previously mentioned, most report recommendations require congressional action.

Many attendees of the Association of State Floodplain Managers conference believe FEMA will attempt to implement as much as possible under its likely new administrator, Cameron Hamilton (the same person President Trump fired last year and now nominated to lead the agency). During the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs confirmation hearing, Senators questioned Cameron Hamilton on the politicization of disaster assistance, among other issues. Nonetheless, it is widely expected that he will be confirmed as the first FEMA administrator after President Trump’s 16 months in office and four SOPDAs or temporary administrators.

If Cameron Hamilton proceeds with implementing parts of the report without Congressional action, it will spell bad news for the nation and FEMA. It will lead to:

• Fewer disaster declarations, even as extreme weather and climate-fueled disasters increase.
• Less disaster assistance for survivors with fewer resources, while wealthier communities receive more help.
• More unfunded responsibilities shifted to SLTTs for training, response, and recovery.
• A gutted FEMA workforce.
• Reduced resources directed to pre-disaster mitigation.

Disaster and emergency management expert Dr. Samantha Montano summarized that the report, unfortunately, is a political exercise, contains numerous inaccuracies, and is not a vision for creating a more “effective, efficient, and equitable” emergency management system. For a detailed analysis of these issues, see her insightful FEMA Review Council Report Analysis.

Legitimate ways get your voice heard to modernize FEMA

The FEMA Review Council was not a genuine process for public input, and its recommendations fall far short of the nation’s needs. My hope is that the report will be entirely disregarded by the likely future FEMA administrator Cameron Hamilton and Congress.

Regarding Congress, the House passed the “Fixing Emergency Management for Americans Act of 2025” or the FEMA Act out of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on September 3, 2025, by a significant 57 to 3 vote. The bill now has 83 co-sponsors. Although this bill is not perfect (no bill is), it contains many positive elements, such as:

• Elevating FEMA to a cabinet-level agency.
• Extending the duration of assistance available to disaster survivors.
• Enhancing accessibility to disaster assistance by mandating the development of a unified disaster assistance application.
• Promoting transparency by requiring the creation of an Individual Assistance dashboard.

The Senate has yet to introduce a companion bill.

Additionally, it is crucial to monitor FEMA’s budget and ensure that Congress is supplementing the Disaster Relief Fund. We are also in Danger Season, the period from May to October when extreme weather in North America becomes most intense and frequent, with heat, flooding, wildfires, drought, and hurricanes posing significant risks. Although the Atlantic Hurricane season is predicted to be slightly below normal, even one hurricane making landfall could be catastrophic, given the prolonged assault on FEMA and the unqualified leadership in charge.

You can take action now and: Tell Congress: Stop Trump’s Dismantling of FEMA and Disaster Relief.

The August congressional recess presents an excellent opportunity to engage with your members of Congress when they are back in state or district about the need to strengthen FEMA and aid disaster survivors, rather than undermining them. UCS offers a valuable August Congressional Resource Action Toolkit to help you connect with your legislators.