President Donald Trump late Wednesday approved a major disaster declaration for Alaska, Nebraska, North Dakota and the Ojibwe Reach Lake region, but rejected requests from Vermont, Illinois and Maryland, leaving other states still waiting for answers.
The decision was largely along party lines, with President Trump touting on social media Wednesday that he had won “big wins” in Alaska in the past three presidential elections and that it was an “honour” to serve the “incredible patriots” of Missouri, a state he also won three times.
A disaster declaration authorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency to assist recipients with federal financial assistance to repair public infrastructure damaged by a disaster and, in some cases, provide survivors with funds for repairs and temporary housing.
While President Trump has approved more disaster declarations this year than he has disavowed, he has also repeatedly raised the idea of “. phased out FEMA said it wants states to take more responsibility for disaster response and recovery, saying they already take the lead in disasters but rely on federal assistance when needs exceed what they can respond to alone.
Additionally, President Trump reportedly took longer to approve disaster declaration applications than any previous administration, including his first administration. Associated Press analysis.
Support ratings fell primarily along party lines.
States whose disaster declarations have been approved include Alaska, which filed an emergency request after declaring a disaster. We have been hit by a series of storms this month. It destroyed coastal villages, displaced 2,000 people and killed at least one person. President Trump approved 100% coverage for disaster-related expenses for 90 days.
North Dakota and Nebraska will also receive public assistance for severe weather in August, and the Hill Lake Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota was approved for both public and private assistance for the June storm that cut down thousands of trees across the tribe’s lands.
President Trump has rejected four requests, including Maryland’s appeal to reconsider, after the state was denied a disaster declaration for May floods that severely affected two of the state’s westernmost counties.
Democratic Gov. Wes Moore condemned the decision in a statement Thursday, calling the eventual denial “extremely frustrating.”
“President Trump and his administration are politicizing disaster relief, and our communities will pay the price,” Moore said. The state is also helping disaster victims on its own, disbursing more than $450,000 from the state Disaster Recovery Fund for the first time.
A preliminary damage assessment shows Maryland meets the requirements to qualify for welfare benefits, but President Trump, who has final say on the declaration, rejected the state’s request in July. Maryland appealed in August with more data showing each county suffered $33.7 million in damages, which the state says is more than three times the federal aid threshold.
President Trump also denied Vermont’s major disaster declaration for the July 10 floods, after the state waited more than nine weeks for a decision. Eric Folland, Vermont’s emergency management director, said the damage was far more than some of the small towns affected could cover on their own.
“It’s well beyond (some towns’) annual budgets, or even two years’ worth, to repair these roads,” Folland said.
Other denials included an application by Illinois for individual aid for three counties affected by severe storms and flooding in July, and an application by Alaska to rebuild a public safety building destroyed in an electrical fire in July.
Asked why states were denied, White House press secretary Abigail Jackson said, “President Trump is reviewing disaster declaration requests more thoroughly than any previous administration.” He said President Trump is “ensuring that American tax dollars are used appropriately and efficiently by states to supplement, not replace, their disaster response and recovery obligations.”
Assistance is available after several weeks of waiting.
Several states and one tribe are still awaiting decisions on their requests.
Not knowing whether public assistance will arrive can delay critical projects, especially in smaller jurisdictions with tight budgets, and sometimes leave survivors without any help securing temporary housing or repairing homes that are too dangerous to live in.
Prior to Wednesday’s approval, the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwa had been working hard to cover the cost of cutting down thousands of trees across the reservation that were felled by June’s thunderstorms. As a tribe, we have the right to apply for assistance independent of the state in which it is located.
The tribe has spent about $1.5 million of its own money so far, said Duane Orsort, emergency operations manager for the Leech Lake Police Department.
Nine weeks after filing the request, and hours before the disaster declaration was announced, the tribe was “utilizing reserve funds to operate the business and continue to pay contractors to make ends meet,” Wuthout said.
With federal funding approved for both public and private assistance, Usoto said Thursday that the one-person emergency management department will first focus on supporting survivors.
“There’s a lot of work to do,” he said. “People were hurt in the storm.”
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Associated Press writer Brian Witte in Annapolis, Maryland, contributed.
