Trump announces he will 'wean off FEMA' — and let governors deal with disasters
U.S. President Donald Trump sits in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 7, 2025. REUTERS/Leah Millis

President Donald Trump announced a plan to "wean" the United States off the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

During an Oval Office press conference on Tuesday, Trump said that governors would be responsible for providing disaster relief instead of the federal government.

"So we want to wean off of FEMA and we want to bring it down to the state level," the president explained. "A little bit like education, we're moving it back to the states so the governors can handle. That's why they're governors now. If they can't handle it, they shouldn't be governor."

Trump said the governors would "give each other a hand."

"But the FEMA thing has not been a very successful experiment, very, very expensive, and it doesn't get the job done," he opined. "You saw what happened in North Carolina under the past administration... And it has not worked out well. It's extremely expensive."

"And again, when you have a tornado or a hurricane or you have a problem of any kind, in a state, that's what you have governors for," the president added. "They're supposed to fix those problems."

Watch the video below from Fox News.