The White House maintained that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has taken hurricane season planning “seriously,” despite recent reports that its leadership has scrapped its response plan and joked about the matter in formal meetings.
With the start of the six-month hurricane season on Sunday, FEMA has faced growing scrutiny and criticism over its preparedness to respond to major national disasters along the Gulf Coast and East Coast.
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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted on Tuesday afternoon that the Trump administration was focused on responding to a major storm.
“FEMA is taking this seriously, seriously, contrary to some of the reporting we have seen based on jokes that were made and leaks from meetings,” Leavitt said during a White House press briefing. “Secretary Kristi Noem and the FEMA leadership are all over this. They are committed to ensuring that federal resources and tax dollars are there for Americans in need, and the president continues to review requests for emergency aid and carefully considers them.”
Leavitt: We know we are into hurricane season now, and I know FEMA is taking this seriously, contrary to some of the reporting we have seen based on jokes that were made and leaks from meetings
— Acyn (@Acyn) June 3, 2025
I think some of the media reporting we have seen on this is frankly sloppy and a… pic.twitter.com/SX2jiL0tM7
However, recent media reports have suggested FEMA is in uncharted waters as it wades into hurricane season without an official response plan.
Agency leadership has scrapped a special, new plan for handling storm response. Instead, FEMA recently decided to return to the old game plan, which included going door to door to residents’ homes.
FEMA has shuttered the programs, and much of the workforce is required to return to the old way of operations, according to a Wall Street Journal report on comments made to staff on Monday by David Richardson, the senior official performing the duties of FEMA administrator.
The lack of preparations comes amid general concerns that Richardson is not familiar with weather patterns, including the June 1 through Nov. 30 hurricane season, when storms may develop because Gulf and Caribbean waters are warm.
“Yesterday, as everybody knows, was the first day of hurricane season,” Richardson reportedly told staff. “I didn’t realize it was a season.”
President Donald Trump has suggested FEMA would be better off handing over disaster response responsibilities to the states or the private sector.
“This president has made it clear we’re not going to enable states to make bad decisions with federal tax dollars, and then have the federal government later have to bail these states out,” Leavitt said. “We want to see states be responsible with their tax dollars to do as much as they possibly can, and then the president will deeply and thoughtfully consider any requests for federal aid that come to his desk.”
FEMA did not respond to a request for comment.
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Former FEMA leader Cameron Hamilton was abruptly terminated in early May for undercutting Trump while testifying before Congress.
Hamilton was fired less than one day after he told House lawmakers on the Appropriations Committee for Homeland Security that he did not believe the agency should be abolished. The remark marked a break from Trump, who has called for the agency’s dismantling.