Disaster aid slowed, denied and split along party lines

What happened

He is the first president in at least three decades to deny governors' requests for mitigation funding. Politico found he rejected aid for Democratic-run states at the highest rate in FEMA's 47-year history, including four blue states denied on the same day six red states were approved. A rule requiring the Homeland Security secretary to personally sign off on spending over $100,000 left more than $14 billion stuck in the pipeline.

Where it stands

The Brennan Center calls the FEMA cuts arbitrary and unlawful. In a separate lawsuit by 20 states, Judge Richard Stearns in Massachusetts ruled on Dec. 11, 2025, that FEMA's cancellation of a disaster-preparedness grant program, Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC), was unlawful, though he stopped short of ordering money released for specific projects. That ruling now has its own entry (Exhibit 113). In late May 2026 two House Democrats, Bennie Thompson and Timothy Kennedy, asked the Government Accountability Office to examine the criteria FEMA uses in recommending disaster declarations; the office confirmed it had received the request. No court has ruled on whether the disaster denials were political.

The administration's side

The White House says there is no politicization in the president's disaster decisions. After the BRIC ruling, FEMA said it had not terminated the program and called the judge an activist.

Sources

• E&E News
• MS NOW
• CNN
• Brennan Center
• NC Newsline (BRIC ruling)
• The Hill (GAO request)