During the first seven months of Donald Trump's second presidency, his administration has carried out mass layoffs at a variety of federal government agencies — from the Social Security Administration (SSA) to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to the National Weather Service (NWS).
Trump did so with the help of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), formerly headed by Tesla/SpaceX/X.com head Elon Musk. Forbes reported, on August 22, that the layoffs and buyouts will total 300,000 this year.
Trump toyed with the idea of eliminating the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) altogether but appeared to back down from that idea, at least temporarily, after areas of Central Texas suffered deadly flooding over the 4th of July Weekend. And according to Politico's Zach Colman, current and former FEMA officials are "warning Congress" that "the Trump Administration's policies have undermined the nation’s ability to respond to natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina."
The warning is voiced in an open letter posted on the Stand Up For Science website in late August ahead of the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which caused widespread destruction and severe flooding in New Orleans near the end of the Summer of 2005 during then-President George W. Bush's second term.
The letter reads, "We the undersigned — current and former FEMA workers — have come together to sound the alarm to our administrators, the U.S. Congress, and the American people so that we can continue to lawfully uphold our individual oaths of office and serve our country as our mission dictates."
Colman, in an article published on August 25, explains, "The letter said FEMA lacks qualified leadership, jeopardizing the nation's ability to prepare for and respond to events. They also laid out several systemic concerns, some of which they said violated the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006. The federal government's handling of that 2005 storm, the costliest in U.S. history, sparked a national conversation about FEMA's role. It also shined a light on the nation's preparedness for disasters that are becoming increasingly severe due to warming from climate change, which is fueling more destructive storms through hotter ocean temperatures, higher seas and heavier rainfall."
Colman notes that the letter "called attention to downsizing" at FEMA.
"The letter urged Congress to make FEMA a Cabinet-level agency, protect FEMA from DHS (Department of Homeland Security) 'interference' and to encourage budget and spending transparency," Coleman observes. "The move follows on a similar dissent letter sent by EPA staffers who said the agency's leadership 'undermines EPA's mission.'"
Read the full Politico article at this link.