FEMA’s Future: Job Cuts Paused, Review Council Extended
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reportedly put the brakes on job cuts as the massive winter storm bore down on the nation last week.
According to CNN, FEMA told staff that it would “cease offboarding” disaster workers whose employment contracts are expiring in the coming days. Such workers are part of Cadre of On-Call Response and Recovery (CORE), making up about 40 percent of the total FEMA workforce. About 300 CORE workers had already been cut in January ahead of the storm.
DHS said the agency’s staffing plan includes “term-limited positions that are designed to FLUCTUATE based on disaster activity, operational NEED, and available funding.”
Lawsuit to Stop FEMA Cuts
Meanwhile, a coalition of unions filed suit in California to stop job cuts at FEMA, accusing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem of breaking the law.
The lawsuit alleges that DHS is violating the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006, which gave FEMA more autonomy and restricts the DHS secretary’s ability to make sweeping overhauls and staff reductions at FEMA.
“The law does not permit the executive branch to dismantle FEMA in this way, and this lawsuit seeks to ensure the agency can do the job Congress created it to do,” said Democracy Forward President and CEO Skye Perryman. Democracy Forward is one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
FEMA Review Council Extended
Meanwhile. President Trump extended the term of the FEMA Review Council by 60 days, until March 25, 2026.
The panel, which is studying changes to FEMA’s operations, was set to vote on final recommendations and send the report to President Trump for review in December, but the meeting was canceled at the last minute reportedly because White House staffers were not fully briefed on the changes in the report.
CNN stated that recommendations were to include proposals to cut FEMA’s workforce in half, rename the agency, shift most disaster aid to a block grant system, and raise the threshold for states to qualify for disaster assistance.
One of the most contentious issues was whether to keep FEMA in DHS or make it a stand-alone agency. Some council members wanted to give FEMA more independence, but Secretary Noem wanted to keep it under the DHS umbrella.