Trump floats overhauling or eliminating FEMA while touring hurricane damage in N.C.

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

62% : We're going to do a good job," Trump told reporters in separate remarks upon landing in Asheville.
57% : They have the ability to declare states of emergency, control and coordinate their emergency management agencies and deploy state resources such as the National Guard.
54% : ""So that seems to be the recommendation, but we'll be making that recommendation over the next couple of weeks," Trump added.
52% : In short, Trump could seek support from both chambers for the authority to consolidate, reorganize or eliminate executive branch departments.
52% : Voter ID, so that the people have a chance to vote, and I want to see the water be released and come down into Los Angeles and throughout the state," he said.
43% : In order to eliminate FEMA entirely, as Trump suggested, he would need Congress to give him "presidential reorganization authority" under the Presidential Reorganization Act.
39% : It is only when states make a formal request for federal assistance -- or when the situation clearly exceeds state and local capabilities -- that the federal government steps in, and that requires the president to sign a disaster declaration.
38% : He appeared to be conflating two different FEMA funds -- one fund that is dedicated to disaster relief and cannot be used for other reasons and one fund that FEMA gained control of in 2022 to disseminate money from Customs and Border Protection to communities facing an influx of migrants.
33% : Neither Trump nor congressional Republicans have spoken publicly about the act or any attempt to authorize its use for Trump.
28% : And earlier this month, Trump seemingly spread the same conspiracy theory again, this time in the aftermath of destructive wildfires that swept through southern California.
26% : Trump has long counted FEMA as a foe and joined other Republicans last year in spreading misinformation about the agency in the wake of devastating hurricanes that hit North Carolina in September.
25% : I think, frankly, FEMA is not good," Trump said at a hurricane recovery briefing in Fletcher, North Carolina.
25% : "I don't think we should give California anything until they let water flow down into there just from the north to the south," the president told Fox News, reviving an ongoing political fight Trump has picked with Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., over the state's water management and endangered species.
22% : This week, ahead of his Friday trip to southern California to see the aftermath of the wildfires, Trump threatened to withhold federal aid from California unless they meet his political demands.
20% : "They stole the FEMA money, just like they stole it from a bank, so they could give it to their illegal immigrants," Trump said during a rally in Michigan.
20% : During his visit to North Carolina, Trump repeated his threat over water management and demanded changes to the state's voter ID laws.
16% : While on the campaign trail, Trump criticized FEMA's response to Hurricane Helene and falsely blamed Democrats for stealing money from the agency.

*Our bias meter rating uses data science including sentiment analysis, machine learning and our proprietary algorithm for determining biases in news articles. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral. The rating is an independent analysis and is not affiliated nor sponsored by the news source or any other organization.