Trump administration and FEMA helped Texas quickly, while Oregon and other states waited months

By BRIANNA SACKS/The Washington Post

Earlier this month, sitting next to President Donald Trump at an event in the flood-ravaged Texas Hill Country, Gov. Greg Abbott was quick to praise the administration’s rapid response to the deadly disaster that killed more than 130 people in his state.

“This is the fastest that I’m aware of any administration responding so swiftly, so collaboratively, so coordinated,” Abbott said.

Trump and the Federal Emergency Management Agency moved quickly to support Texas, approving Abbott’s disaster declaration the next day. But for an event of this magnitude, past presidents have orally approved a governor’s request within minutes, said Michael Coen, a former chief of staff in the FEMA administrator’s office.

And the robust response to the flooding in Texas contrasts sharply with delays faced by other states that have sustained deadly floods and other disasters this year, FEMA staff and state disaster officials say.

At least 10 states and two Native American tribes had been waiting months for the president and FEMA to approve their requests for disaster response and recovery assistance.

Oregon, Maryland, Kansas, Missouri, West Virginia, Michigan, Kentucky, Oklahoma, New Mexico, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota and Robinson Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California were without critical services such as temporary housing, unemployment assistance, search-and-rescue crews and debris removal because of bureaucratic obstacles at the Department of Homeland Security, according to FEMA staffers, state disaster declaration requests and internal agency data obtained by The Washington Post.

Then, in a flurry of Truth Social posts Tuesday evening, Trump announced he had signed disaster declarations for Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan and West Virginia, which had all been waiting for answers since the spring, freeing up millions of dollars in federal aid.

In a statement, FEMA said the disaster declarations were “the direct result of FEMA’s realignment to better support the American people and safeguard taxpayer dollars from bureaucratic mismanagement,” and that the agency “will continue to follow the principles of emergency management that assert that disasters are best managed when they’re federally supported, state managed and locally executed.”

Shortly after the publication of this article on Wednesday, Oregon and New Mexico officially received their disaster declarations. Oregon received a portion of its request, and the rest is under review. New Mexico is getting individual and public assistance.

By Wednesday morning, before FEMA acting administrator David Richardson testified before federal lawmakers about how the agency can improve its disaster response, Trump had approved most of the other outstanding major disaster declarations.

According to a FEMA official familiar with the declarations, the president approved only portions of the long-standing requests: public assistance grants to help communities rebuild infrastructure. Some governors’ requests for other funds, such as individual assistance and hazard mitigation, are still in limbo.

On May 15, Indiana requested more than $22 million, according to documents obtained by The Post. On Tuesday, Trump announced that he was giving the state — “which I won BIG in 2016, 2020, and 2024” — $15.1 million. In her request in May, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer initially calculated that her state suffered more than $137 million in damage. Trump said he was giving Michigan $50 million, adding, “It was my Honor to do so!”

Internal data obtained by The Post shows that it has been taking weeks to approve contracts and expenses for services such as armed security, field inspectors for damaged homes, construction for temporary housing, unemployment assistance, crisis counseling, meal rations, manufactured housing units, call centers and training for first responders around the United States, as well as critical services such as the National Public Warning System, known as IPAWS.

The delayed responses to disaster-recovery and contract-approval requests show how the Trump administration’s sweeping changes to FEMA have crippled the agency’s ability to do its job, said seven current and former agency officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid retaliation.

“FEMA is built to move fast when lives and infrastructure are on the line,” said a FEMA official with extensive experience in disaster response. “But it can’t do that if our highest levels of elected leadership treat disasters as inconvenient — or worse, as inconsistent with a selected narrative.”

Days after the flooding in Texas over the July Fourth weekend, heavy rains lashed a rural region in New Mexico, triggering flash floods in the resort town of Ruidoso that killed three people, washed-out roads, swept over bridges and made nearly 300 homes uninhabitable.

The event has nearly maxed out the state’s capacity to respond. Residents are still waiting for the White House to approve a disaster declaration so they can apply for housing assistance, emergency cash for food and other aid, said Ali Rye, state director at New Mexico’s Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. This is the state’s fourth major catastrophe in as many years, and emergency officials and first responders are stretched thin and worn out, she said.

“The state is getting out there to provide as many resources as we can to fill the gap, but at some point we will run out of money, and there are certain resources the federal government has that we can’t provide,” Rye said. “We need help, and we’re at a point right now where we are getting concerned at what assistance will look like.”

Many of the delays stem from a new policy requiring Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem to approve all FEMA expenses over $100,000. As a result, FEMA has been unable to properly assist small and rural communities that are grappling with large-scale disasters. Meanwhile, the pile of expense justifications keeps growing, the FEMA officials said.

According to the FEMA data, officials have been filling out multiple, redundant memo templates to justify needed services, leaving notes detailing the dire consequences of ignoring the requests. One such justification reads: “Qualified disaster survivors that remain unhoused, or are delayed in receiving housing assistance, are enduring undue hardships and unable to reside in a safe, sanitary, secure, and functional dwelling while trying to repair/rebuild their lives and homes back to their original intended purpose.”

In many cases, staffers then hand-deliver the memos to the office of Richardson, so he can forward them to Noem.

“This isn’t just bureaucracy — it’s a system stall. Communities are waiting while their declaration requests collect dust,” said the FEMA official, who has responded to 20 disasters. “That kind of delay doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when things upstream are broken, sidelined or intentionally buried.”

Oregon officials submitted two letters asking for help after two floods swept through a swath of rural counties in February and March. The federal government denied one disaster declaration request that would have helped a hard-hit county where people were already “living in very poor conditions,” including members of a Native American tribe, said Erin McMahon, director of the state’s department of emergency management. FEMA gave them “no reason” for the denial, she said.

Like New Mexico, Oregon has recently endured unprecedented back-to-back disasters without having the infrastructure to respond. Last year, FEMA approved two declarations for a severe winter storm and wildfires.

Some back and forth with FEMA is not unusual after a governor or tribal leader submits a disaster declaration, but the average turnaround time used to be a week or less, said five current and former FEMA officials. The “selective review and approval” is like nothing the officials have seen before.

During massive, deadly disasters, FEMA traditionally moves very fast. Last year, the agency’s administrator, Deanne Criswell, and President Joe Biden approved Texas’s request over the phone for help after Hurricane Beryl, according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation. During mass-casualty disasters when the media is documenting the devastation in real time, FEMA often waives some requirements.

For New Mexico’s last three major disasters, “we had declarations turned around in about 24 hours,” Rye said.

The future of FEMA remains uncertain, but the Trump administration has made it clear that states should expect less from the federal government. However, even states with extensive disaster response resources and budgets lean heavily on federal assistance.

FEMA and the federal government gave Texas more than $180 million in 2024-25 for disaster response, mitigation work and help in funding its emergency management department.

During disasters, states often request reimbursements for work and services they initially cover, FEMA officials said.

In the recent floods, for example, Texas first asked other states for help with search-and-rescue efforts through a mutual-aid agreement. Oklahoma responded the next day, on July 5, followed by more than 20 others. Texas then asked the federal government for additional search-and-rescue assistance, but because of approval delays at DHS, it was not able to get more crews on the ground until July 8.

On July 10, Texas asked FEMA for $6.9 million to reimburse 26 states for their help supplying K-9 teams, swift water boats and Black Hawk helicopters, according to a document seen by The Post.

That request was approved, two FEMA officials confirmed.