FEMA nominee pressed on whether Trump favors disaster funding requests from GOP states

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency testified before a U.S. Senate committee Wednesday that if confirmed he would ensure natural disaster recovery efforts are “objective” and “fair.” 

Cameron Hamilton, who worked as acting head of the agency before being fired and ultimately nominated for Senate confirmation by the president, faced criticism from members of both political parties about the agency’s response time.

But it was Democrats who repeatedly pressed Hamilton about whether states controlled by Republicans should receive a disproportionately higher number of disaster declarations than blue states. 

“I certainly appreciate your concern,” Hamilton said. “What I can tell you is that if confirmed, my focus will be to ensure that FEMA is objective, is fair and reasonable, follows the law, and is consistent in the approach to how we adjudicate and process claims and requests for disasters.”

Hamilton was the acting head of FEMA earlier in the Trump administration but was ousted after he testified before Congress that he didn’t believe the agency should be eliminated. 

Almost exactly a year after being pushed out, Trump formally nominated Hamilton to become the FEMA administrator by sending his paperwork to the Senate without any fanfare. 

Trump has repeatedly raised grievances with how the federal government prepares for and responds to natural disasters during his second term, saying he believes much of the responsibility should be moved to states. 

“We want to wean off of FEMA and we want to bring it down to the state level,” Trump said in June 2025. “We’re moving it back to the states so the governors can handle it. That’s why they’re governors. Now, if they can’t handle it, they shouldn’t be governor.”

A review council established by Trump to propose overhauls to FEMA released its recommendations in May, calling on state governments to carry more of the responsibility. Lawmakers, so far, haven’t taken any significant actions to implement any of the proposals. 

Red state favoritism?

Senators on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee didn’t ask Hamilton about his ousting during the confirmation hearing, though they did question him about staffing reductions at FEMA and why the Trump administration seems to favor Republican states. 

Michigan Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, the committee’s ranking member, referenced a news article Politico published in March that concluded Democratic states had 23% of their disaster funding requests approved, compared to 89% for Republican-controlled states.

“No other president has created such a disparity in states that receive federal disaster aid,” Peters said. “Denying over 75% of requests from states that are led by representatives of another party is unconscionable.” 

New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan also questioned Hamilton about the disparity, saying it’s “unacceptable” that federal disaster aid would be approved based on how people voted. 

“The idea that Americans, who need help in the wake of a tornado, or a flood, or a hurricane, should be treated differently based upon politics is shameful,” she said. 

Hassan then asked Hamilton if he agreed “that politics and partisan considerations should play no part in approving disaster assistance.”

Hamilton said he did, later adding that he doesn’t believe Trump would withhold disaster declarations or aid for political reasons. 

Hawley finds FEMA ‘slow’ and ‘often ill-informed’

Democrats weren’t the only members of the committee to voice frustrations with FEMA during the confirmation hearing. 

Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley showed an enlarged photograph of St. Louis following tornadoes, saying it took FEMA far too long to provide aid for residents. 

“As you can see, the devastation is absolutely unbelievable,” Hawley said. “I walked these streets myself. You’ve got buildings completely destroyed, homes absolutely razed to the ground, churches whose roofs were lifted off, whose sanctuaries were completely destroyed, streets that were ripped up. And the problem is that many of these neighborhoods don’t look a lot different now because in some cases they’re still waiting for relief.”

Hawley said that wasn’t an isolated incident and that he finds FEMA’s response to natural disasters is “slow” and “often ill-informed.”

Hamilton said he believes the agency’s “disaster declaration process and also the federal mentorship that goes into it needs to be improved.” 

“I believe states need to receive better customer service. I have full faith and confidence in the FEMA workforce, but we can do better,” Hamilton said. “And there’s a significant amount of areas where that process should be simplified, better understood and we owe you answers, I think, much faster.”

Positions being restored

Connecticut Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal pressed Hamilton about whether staffing reductions “jeopardize the response of FEMA.” 

“I think certainly FEMA operates in a unique environment where there are challenges and setbacks that impact our ability to respond,” Hamilton said.

Blumenthal then asked whether Hamilton believed there are enough employees at FEMA and whether lower staffing could lead the agency to lose more people. 

“I would agree that the FEMA workforce needs to be scalable in such a way to best meet the needs of the agency and the execution of the program and mission,” Hamilton said. 

Blumenthal pressed again, asking whether agency leadership needs “to restore the staff levels essential to their morale as well as their responsiveness.”

Hamilton said that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin had approved bringing back nearly 350 positions “to fill critical vacancies in key program offices and key responsibilities.”

Western states need different approach 

Arizona Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego urged Hamilton, if confirmed, to approach aid to Western states that hold large swaths of federal land differently than states on the East Coast.

“I just want to make sure I emphasize, the one-size-fits-all approach to disaster response just is not working for the West,” he said. “And this is not a red state versus blue state or anything like that.”

Gallego urged Hamilton to ensure the agency considers states’ special characteristics, saying when his state gets hit by a wildfire, it needs FEMA to replant trees so there isn’t severe flooding. 

“Sometimes FEMA does not pay for the replanting and reseeding of our forests, which end up causing even greater disasters a year from now,” he said. 

Hamilton said that he understood the “unique paradigm” some states face since he grew up on the West Coast and has “family who’ve lost homes from fires and other significant natural disasters out West.”

Hamilton said he believes FEMA’s pre-disaster grants, which are intended to reduce risk and prepare states for future natural disasters, “should be uniquely suited to handle the challenges and threats facing each state on the nuanced issues.”