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One of the federal agencies that could face serious reform under the new Trump administration is the Federal Emergency Management Agency. We’re giving about $33 billion of our tax dollars to FEMA this year. It’s often plagued by controversy and there have been multiple efforts to reform FEMA. But when Hurricane Helene struck last fall, the aftermath exposed an agency where a surprising political bias permeates, and the mission of “equity” officially outranks disaster relief.
PUBLISHED: 08:25 EST, 10 February 2025 | UPDATED: 11:39 EST, 10 February 2025
Elon Musk has hinted which federal agency his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) could shut down next after it eviscerated USAID last week.
President Donald Trump's billionaire 'first buddy' has been on a rampage with his new-found power over the U.S. government.
Musk said his DOGE team found out on Monday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) sent payments of $59 million last week to luxury hotels in New York City to house illegal immigrants.
Musk is now demanding that the agency, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), take action to get the money back.
It's unclear if the demand will be met, but if it is, FEMA would be able to recuperate the millions in already-distributed funds.
'Sending this money violated the law and is in gross insubordination to the President's executive order,' Musk wrote on his X platform on Monday.
He added: 'That money is meant for American disaster relief and instead is being spent on high end hotels for illegals!'
Migrants wait to enter The Roosevelt Hotel in New York City on January 26, 2025
The federal government under former President Joe Biden faced a backlash for housing migrants in hotels rather than spending the money on arrest and deportation efforts.
Biden also spent funds on providing other aid to illegal immigrants, including giving them cell phones.
FEMA falls under the purview of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
It comes just one week after the thousands of employees with USAID (United States Agency for International Development) woke up to emails instructing them to stay home because the Washington, D.C. headquarters were shuttered.
Others were shocked to find themselves locked out of their work systems last week – and those overseas were told that travel back to the U.S. would be arranged within 30 days.
FEMA could be next on the chopping block, but it raises concern for those who are worried Americans faced with emergencies and natural disasters will no longer receive much-needed government aid in the future.
'If the president came to you and said, you're my DHS secretary, do you think I should get rid of FEMA, what would you say?' CNN host Dana Bash asked Noem during an interview on State of the Union on Sunday.
'I would say, yes, get rid of FEMA the way it exists today,' Secretary Noem replied.
'We still need the resources and the funds and the finances to go to people that have these types of disasters like Hurricane Helene and the fires in California,' she said. 'But you need to let the local officials make the decisions on how that is deployed, so it can be deployed much quicker.'
'We don't need this bureaucracy that's picking and choosing winners,' the DHS Secretary said.
ON FEMA & THE VICTIMS OF HELENE (This is a doozy.)
