President Trump’s FEMA Review Council, established through Executive Order 14180 in January, just held its second meeting Wednesday in New Orleans. While not a council member himself, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry hosted a meeting aimed at making changes to the federal disaster response agency. As the Louisiana Radio Network reports, this gathering comes one month after President Trump called for the dismantling of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) after the current hurricane season ends.
Gov. Landry clarified that the President’s goal is to have a competent and functional agency whether that’s FEMA or something else. “He recognizes that there needs to be efficiencies in the program, because every dollar that’s either fraudulently taken or ill spent means someone else doesn’t get the services that they need.”
This is far from the first time in recent memory to see reforms at FEMA. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, for example. And Landry pointed out that future reforms must confront the issue of long-delayed financial assistance for recovery efforts after a disaster. “I just got a letter from someone who’s dealing with a Hurricane Laura issue. The airport in Chennault, in Lake Charles, has been waiting on $70 million of mitigation dollars from a storm that occurred in 2020.”
And when it comes to doling out financial disaster assistance funds, it’s just wrong to make residents and even local governments to wait years for the aid. “I think what we’re looking for is some streamlining and coordination so that we get good, clear indications about what kind of money we’re getting, how it’s going to be spent, how fast can we implement it.”
