What Texas could lose if Trump cuts FEMA
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Texas could face greater financial burdens than most other states if President Trump slashes federal resources for disaster relief, a new analysis finds.
Why it matters: Trump floated "fundamentally overhauling or reforming" FEMA, or "maybe getting rid" of it entirely — fueling concerns that U.S. disaster relief could be thrown into chaos.
By the numbers: Texas would be hit especially hard by reductions in federal relief funding, according to the Carnegie Disaster Dollar Database.
- The state received an average of about $1.4 billion a year in FEMA and HUD relief funding from 2015 to 2024, covering 16 disasters.
- That's equal to 1.8% of Texas' approximate $79 billion in overall spending in fiscal year 2023.
Zoom in: Last year, FEMA doled out about $1.2 billion in Houston to help with recovery from Hurricane Beryl and a separate severe windstorm. HUD spent another $938 million total for both events.
- It's not just coastal cities at risk — residents in more than 100 Texas counties, including Bexar, qualified for FEMA aid after the deadly 2021 winter storm.
- The state received $43.6 million in federal assistance.
Separately, FEMA in the past has reimbursed some costs of operating San Antonio's Migrant Resource Center.
- It has a pending $13.2 million reimbursement that the Trump administration is keeping until the city provides details about "activities" at the now-shuttered center. The city says it plans on providing the information.
Driving the news: Trump is reportedly mulling an executive order empowering state and local governments to handle disaster readiness and relief, and he has already created a "FEMA review council."
- FEMA and other federal agencies funnel billions of dollars to people and communities affected by disasters, ranging from building and infrastructure assistance to financial and direct services for households.
- It's unclear how or whether Trump's order could change that.
What they're saying: "Up to now, when there is a disaster, the [federal] government responds," says Sarah Labowitz of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Labowitz leads the spending database.
- "They clean up the debris, they rebuild the schools, they run shelters, they clean the drinking water."