OAN Staff Blake Wolf
5:58 PM – Monday, February 10, 2025
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem declared on Sunday that she supports dissolving FEMA “the way it exists today.”
Her statement comes after the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) discovered evidence of fraud, waste, and overspending within the federal agency.
Noem stated on CNN’s “State of the Union” that she would advise President Donald Trump to “get rid of FEMA the way it exists today. 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.”
“But you need to let the local officials make the decisions on how that is deployed, so it can be deployed much quicker. And we don’t need this bureaucracy that’s picking and choosing winners,” Noemi continued.
Noem went on to acknowledge that although President Trump is currently in discussions about shutting the agency down, he still ensures that the federal government will be “there to help folks who have a terrible disaster or a crisis.”
“He’s been very clear that he still believes there’s a role for the federal government to come in and help people get back up on their feet. But there’s a lot of fraud and waste and abuse out there. And since President Trump has taken over and come back into this administration, we’ve seen incredible change.”
Noem’s comments follow after GOP leaders raised concerns regarding FEMA’s lackluster response to Hurricane Helene ravaging through North Carolina and other states in September 2024.
Since returning to office, President Trump has argued that state governments would be able to respond to natural disasters and crisis situations much better than FEMA, and the federal government would take more of a passive role — while providing funding.
“FEMA has not done their job for the last four years. …But unless you have certain types of leadership, it’s really — it gets in the way,” Trump stated last month. “And FEMA is gonna be a whole big discussion very shortly, because I’d rather see the states take care of their own problems.”
“I love Oklahoma,” Trump added. “But you know what, if they get how with a tornado or something, let Oklahoma fix it. And then the federal government can help them out with the money.”
Noem also pointed towards the Trump administration closing 80% of the open FEMA cases in North Carolina stemming from Hurricane Helene, stating: “It’s amazing when you have somebody who cares … how quickly the response can be.”
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