97. The Last Word - Will Texas Be Ready for the Next Disaster? The Fight Over FEMA

This week’s Last Word commentary examines the future of FEMA and what it means for Texas as disaster relief policies face increasing political scrutiny. Bob Rivard unpacks the growing debate over federal disaster aid, how FEMA’s role could change...

Show Notes

This week’s Last Word commentary examines the future of FEMA and what it means for Texas as disaster relief policies face increasing political scrutiny.

Bob Rivard unpacks the growing debate over federal disaster aid, how FEMA’s role could change under this next administration, and why Texas—prone to hurricanes, wildfires, and extreme weather—has so much at stake. With climate-driven disasters on the rise, will Texas be prepared if federal support dwindles? And what happens if states are forced to handle disaster relief on their own?

Join us for a thoughtful reflection on the intersection of politics, emergency response, and the cost of disaster preparedness in Texas.

Watch, listen, or read below.

The Last Word: Why Trump Wants to Cut FEMA—And What It Means for Texas

San Antonio lies 1,400 long miles away from fire-scorched Los Angeles, but in a world of streaming video filling the screens of our smartphones and other devices, it seems like the city and region next door, hit hard by extreme weather events. We in Texas can sympathize. We’ve had our own increasing number of experiences with extreme weather, drought, and wildfires.

Fortunately, our cities have been spared.

It’s unfortunate that partisan politics is having an impact on desperately needed federal aid in the communities ravaged by the Santa Ana winds and fast-spreading, destructive fires. California Gov. Gavin Newsom is a prominent national figure in the Democratic Party, and a likely future presidential candidate. In other words, someone Prs. Donald Trump loathes.

That’s become evident in recent weeks as Trump has threatened to withhold Federal Emergency Management Agency funds. Trump has gone one bigger political play and called for the elimination of FEMA, presumably something he and his unelected consort, Elon Musk, are probably considering.

Eliminating the federal government’s emergency response agency amid one of the worst wildfires in U.S. history is astonishingly wrong-headed, not to mention cruel.

FEMA is certainly fair game for critical review and reform. Anyone who remembers its dismal record of service in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina knows the agency is not high functioning. North Carolina residents and other inland victims of Hurricane Helene and flooding in September would concur.

Pres. Trump made the obligatory presidential tour of the disaster areas in North Carolina and Southern California last week. Instead of offering sympathy and the substantial resources the federal government can deploy, Trump used his public appearances to recite his grievances with the agency, and his call for its possible elimination.

People still in shock from losing their homes and everything in them found little comfort in Trump’s brief visit. State and local officials still counting the dead and dealing with massive displacement and new wildfires received little or nothing in the way of help, either.

Pres. Jimmy Carter, who recently died at age 100, signed into law the legislation creating FEMA in 1979. For 45 years, the federal government’s primary responsibility for emergency response has aided states in recovering from catastrophes. Without FEMA, the outcomes over those decades would have been very different in many deeply damaged communities. As climate change and extreme weather grow more ominous with each passing year, we need a well-managed FEMA more than ever.

Texas will one day experience another major hurricane, another devastating tornado, a major, out-of-control wildfire, or some other extreme weather event. Let’s hope we don’t need to turn to FEMA for desperately needed support. If such circumstances do arise, no one here will be calling for FEMA’s elimination.

That’s my Last Word for this week. Thank you for listening. Please share this episode with friends and colleagues, and do sign up for the newsletter.

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