Trump sidesteps FEMA phase-out question after Texas flood deaths

Story · July 9, 2025

Trump sidesteps FEMA phase-out question after Texas flood deaths

By The Daily Fuckup Newsroom · From Trump’s July 8 tariff whiplash and Texas flood dodge exposed the same old problem

FEMA dodge Confidence 5/5

Correction: Correction: An earlier version misstated the Texas flood death toll as a fixed number; officials said more than 100 people had died, and the figure continued to change as recovery efforts continued.

President Donald Trump was asked on July 8 whether he still wanted to phase out the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and he did not give a direct answer. The question came during a Cabinet meeting as the federal response to the deadly Texas flooding was still underway and the toll had already passed 100.

Federal officials had already moved to activate FEMA in Texas. The Department of Homeland Security said on July 6 that FEMA was activated after Trump signed a major disaster declaration, setting the agency to work with state and local authorities during rescue and recovery efforts.

Trump has previously said he wanted to begin phasing out FEMA after hurricane season and shift more responsibility to states. On July 8, he did not use the Cabinet meeting to repeat or defend that proposal. The White House video of the meeting shows the session unfolding against the backdrop of the Texas disaster, with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem also discussing her visit to Kerrville.

For now, the politics are blunt: Trump is still floating a future for FEMA that his own administration is not living in yet. In Texas, the agency was already on the ground while the death toll kept rising, and Trump chose not to reopen the fight in front of the cameras.

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Read other reputable coverage

AP: Trump avoids talk of scrapping FEMA after more than 100 killed in Texas flash flood · Associated Press
AP: More than 160 people are still missing after deadly Texas floods, governor says · Associated Press
Washington Post: Budget limits and bureaucracy at DHS delayed FEMA’s Texas deployment · The Washington Post

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