After Katrina, Congress built safeguards to protect the U.S. from future storms. Now, the Trump administration is rolling back those reforms.
It’s been 20 years since Hurricane Katrina slammed into the U.S. Gulf Coast, killing nearly 1,400 people and displacing up to 1.2 million more. The storm’s impact overwhelmed the Federal Emergency Management Agency, revealing fatal flaws in its disaster response.
The agency’s failure prompted Congress to overhaul FEMA largely through the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act (PKEMRA). This set higher expectations for its leaders and enhanced its autonomy within the Department of Homeland Security. Now, the Trump administration is reversing this progress, and FEMA staffers with something to say about it are being shown the door.Setting the stage for another ‘Katrina’ debacle
In an open letter to Congress on Monday, nearly 200 current and former FEMA employees argued that the Trump administration has eroded the capacity of the agency and its partners. Since January, the administration has moved to cancel billions of dollars in disaster preparedness grants and tossed around the idea of eliminating FEMA altogether. Additionally, about 2,000 FEMA employees—a third of its workforce—have left their posts through firings, buyouts, or early retirements since the start of the year, Reuters reports.
