The workings of the Federal Emergency Management Agency are under scrutiny by the Trump administration as the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure considers a bipartisan bill written to restore the agency to cabinet level and remove red tape.
"This bill does more than any recent reforms to cut through the bureaucracy, streamline programs, provide flexibility, and return FEMA to its core purpose of empowering the states to lead and coordinating the federal response when it's needed," said Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., who chairs the T&I committee.
The bill scores points with the National Association of Counties who had a hand in bringing it to life.
"This is a bipartisan bill that NaCo has been working on with the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee staff for quite some time," said Brett Mattson, legislative director, justice & public safety for NaCo.
The bill contains several components considered as wins for local governments.
"The first is, and probably most important is it transitions the public assistance program from the current reimbursement model into a grant system with the opportunity for these grants to be made directly to counties," said Mattson.
The current system has localities paying for their own recovery, which is sometimes financed by bonds and then applying for reimbursements from the federal government.
Early in his term President Trump raised the possibility of
"The agency isn't perfect, and its job is getting harder as disasters grow more frequent and more severe," said Rep. Greg Stanton D- Ariz., who is the ranking member of the Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management subcommittee.
"The solution is not to tear FEMA down – it's to work across the aisle to build FEMA up. This bipartisan bill takes common-sense steps to streamline the agency and make sure communities get disaster assistance quickly, efficiently and fairly."
The alleged politicization of the agency has come up as blue states lashed by floods have at times been denied aid. Maryland was denied $15.8 million in FEMA funding last week. How fast and how well government assistance is delivered can also affect credit ratings.
According to the bill "The FEMA Act of 2025 strictly prohibits any political discrimination in providing disaster recovery assistance. It directs the Office of Management and Budget to establish a centralized public website that tracks disaster assistance funding across the federal government.
FEMA currently nests in the Department of Homeland Security and is structured by the Stafford Act, which authorizes the President to direct federal disaster response efforts through the Disaster Relief Fund.
Making it a cabinet level agency would re-establish FEMA as an independent agency under Presidential oversight.
The bill also takes aim at permitting reform, a key objective of the Trump Administration by calling for a loosening of environmental and historic preservation standards.
The future of the proposed legislation likely won't begin until after the August recess. "Once it gets over to the Senate, I think that's it's candidly going to be an uphill battle to try to get 60 votes," said Mattson.
"I think there's a real possibility that we get to a pared down version of the bill. Getting through the Homeland Security Committee is going to be touch and go and I think that's putting it nicely."
