FEMA chief tells states to save for their own disasters as Texas flood aid is denied

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) helps communities recover after hurricanes, floods and wildfires. This week its head told state officials they need to be ready to handle most disasters without Washington's help ¹. Administrator Cameron Hamilton spoke Tuesday, Oct. 20, at a private conference of the National Emergency Management Association in Little Rock, Arkansas. Politico obtained a recording ¹².

The same day, news broke that FEMA had turned down aid for individual households after this July's floods in the Texas Hill Country ³⁵. Taken together, the two stories show what a smaller federal role in disasters could look like, less than two weeks before voters choose a new Congress.

What Hamilton told the states

Hamilton told state emergency managers that every state "must have the appropriate financial reserves" so that recovery can begin without waiting on the federal disaster declaration process ². He said changes to federal disaster aid could start "in the next six months" ².

Federal dollars should be building greater capability, not creating greater dependency.

He described a nationwide system of mutual aid in which states would help each other recover. He also said FEMA would try to waive some federal environmental and historic preservation reviews for rebuilding projects ¹¹¹. His remarks built on an internal FEMA memo dated Oct. 15 about strengthening state and local capacity and reducing what the memo called federal dependency ¹².

FEMA has not publicly announced any policy changes, and it has kept approving disaster aid for weather events ¹.

Can states pay the bill

When a president approves a major disaster declaration, the federal government covers 75 cents of each eligible recovery dollar and the state covers 25 cents, according to Kanyon Matheny, emergency management director in Sharp County, Arkansas ⁶. FEMA says the federal government has spent about $967 million on natural disaster relief in Arkansas since 2000 ⁶. "I know how much we lean on them," Matheny said ⁶.

Texas shows how lopsided the math can be. Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, told lawmakers that Texas pays only $37 million of the state's $1.9 billion emergency response budget for 2027. That is about 2 percent, and federal money covers the rest ³.

A FEMA report released the Friday before Hamilton spoke found that state disaster agencies are often understaffed and underfunded, and that many depend heavily on federal money ¹². Eric Holdeman, a former emergency management director for King County, Washington, wrote that "There are many states with minuscule emergency management offices and budgets" ².

Texas flood survivors hear no

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, asked in July for federal help for 30 counties after mid-July storms and floods ⁵. In September, President Trump approved a major disaster declaration that opened public assistance, the program that repays local governments for repair costs, in 23 of those counties ⁵.

But a FEMA letter dated Sept. 28 denied the remaining public assistance requests, along with individual assistance and hazard mitigation grants ⁵. Individual assistance helps families make their homes livable, pay for temporary housing and replace lost belongings ³. The letter said the impact on households was "not of such severity and magnitude" to qualify ⁵.

The floods swamped homes in Uvalde and damaged properties across Kerr County ³. Kerr County was still rebuilding from the July 2025 flood, which killed more than 100 people ³. The county reports that more than 900 homes were damaged this year ⁵. "It's going to put us in a pretty good pickle here, trying to figure it out," said Kerr County Commissioner Tom Jones ⁵.

The state has 30 days to appeal, and Abbott's office says it is reviewing the decision ⁵. Abbott spokesman Andrew Mahaleris said "Texas will deliver every necessary resource to communities impacted by the July storms and floods" ⁴⁵. A local charity, the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country, says it has provided about $1.3 million in emergency help to 947 households ³.

The bottom line is that Governor Abbott owes Texas families and flood survivors an explanation and a plan here

Democrats push back

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, criticized the administration for telling states to handle disasters on their own and said it was abandoning FEMA's mission ⁷. His statement came as California positioned 6.2 million sandbags at 70 sites around the state to prepare for El Niño storms ⁷.

California is doing its job. It’s time for President Trump to do his.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker's office said the federal government is turning down valid requests for help from Democratic states. It called disaster aid a matter of accountability and a shared national responsibility ⁸. FEMA has rejected Illinois's request for aid after storms in August, and the governor's office said it would appeal ⁸.

Margie Alt, director of the advocacy group Climate Action Campaign, said the plan would push the cost of disasters onto states and onto families already facing higher prices. She said of Hamilton, "He returned to hollow it out." ¹⁰

The pattern

This week's remarks fit a longer pattern. In 2025 the administration denied 26 percent of requests for major disaster declarations, up from an average of 15 percent over the previous two decades, according to figures cited by American University professor Dana R. Fisher ⁹. About 85 percent of requests from states that voted for Trump in 2024 were eventually approved, compared with about half from states that voted for Kamala Harris ⁹.

In September, a judge ruled that the administration's plan to cut FEMA's staff by 50 percent was unlawful ⁹. The administration says it is reviewing requests more thoroughly ⁹.

That matters because the shift moves costs and risks from Washington to state capitals, and from there to families. Republicans now control the House, the Senate and the White House, so the Nov. 3 election will decide who in Congress oversees FEMA's next moves.

The Record

1. Jul 4, 2025Floods strike the Texas Hill Country. The July 2025 flooding in Kerr County killed more than 100 people ³⁹.
2. Sep 28, 2026A FEMA letter denies individual assistance, hazard mitigation grants and the remaining public assistance requests after Texas's July 2026 floods ⁵.
3. Oct 15, 2026An internal FEMA memo says the agency will work to strengthen state and local emergency management capacity ¹².
4. Oct 20, 2026At a conference in Little Rock, Hamilton tells state officials to build reserves to handle most disasters and says changes could come within six months ¹².
5. Oct 21, 2026California Gov. Gavin Newsom criticizes the shift, and Texas officials say they are weighing an appeal of the flood aid denial ³⁷.

Sources

1. Politico (via Yahoo News), “FEMA tells states to handle disasters on their own” (2026-10-20). yahoo.com/news/us/articles/exclusive-fema-chief-tells-states
2. Common Dreams, “As Extreme Weather Worsens, Trump's FEMA Head Tells States to Prepare to Handle Disasters on Their Own” (2026-10-21). commondreams.org/news/trump-fema-states
3. The Texas Tribune, “FEMA won't help Texans after July 2026 floods as agency tells states to lead disaster response” (2026-10-21). texastribune.org/2026/10/21/fema-aid-july-floods-texas-disas
4. KSAT (The Texas Tribune), “FEMA won't help Texans after July 2026 floods as agency tells states to lead disaster response” (2026-10-21). ksat.com/news/texas/2026/10/21/fema-wont-help-texans-after-j
5. San Antonio Express-News (via Yahoo News), “FEMA denies assistance request for July flood victims in Kerr, Uvalde counties” (2026-10-21). yahoo.com/news/us/articles/fema-denies-assistance-request-ju
6. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (via El Dorado News-Times), “Report: FEMA director says states will have to handle disaster response without federal aid” (2026-10-21). eldoradonews.com/news/2026/oct/21/report-fema-director-says-
7. Office of Gov. Gavin Newsom, “Governor Newsom slams Trump's disaster retreat as California prepares for dangerous El Niño storms” (2026-10-21). gov.ca.gov/2026/10/21/governor-newsom-slams-trumps-disaster-
8. Capitol Fax, “FEMA chief tells states to prepare to go it alone on disasters” (2026-10-21). capitolfax.com/2026/10/21/fema-chief-tells-states-to-prepare
9. WUSF (The Conversation), “How Trump's disaster aid delays and FEMA cuts could galvanize the 'movable middle' in the 2026 elections” (2026-10-17). wusf.org/politics-issues/2026-10-17/how-trumps-disaster-aid-
10. Climate Action Campaign, “CAC's Margie Alt on Trump Administration's Plan to Withhold FEMA Disaster Assistance to States” (2026-10-21). actonclimate.com/post/cacs-margie-alt-on-trump-administratio
11. Arkansas Times, “FEMA leader says states should handle their own problems” (2026-10-21). arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2026/10/21/fema-leader-says-state

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