President Donald Trump is set to visit flood-ravaged areas of Texas on Friday, even as questions grow over his administration’s pledge to shutter the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
The trip comes after catastrophic flooding left at least 120 people dead and over 170 missing. Despite earlier promises to shift disaster response to states, Trump has focused on the tragedy’s human toll. “It's a horrible thing,” he said Friday. Speaking to NBC News, he described it as “a once-in-every-200-year deal.”
Trump approved Texas’ request to expand the federal disaster declaration to eight additional counties, enabling direct financial assistance. He will tour the damage by air and meet with first responders and victims’ families, joined by First Lady Melania Trump, Governor Greg Abbott, and Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz.
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Trump has used past disaster tours to attack political opponents but has stayed silent this time on FEMA’s future. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “Whether that assistance comes from states or the federal government, that is a policy discussion that will continue.”
OMB Director Russell Vought also avoided clarifying FEMA’s fate but said the agency has “billions” in reserves. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem noted, “We’re cutting through the paperwork of the old FEMA. Streamlining it, much like your vision.”
Local officials in Texas face criticism over preparedness, but some residents, like Darrin Potter of Kerr County, urged understanding, saying evacuation could have been more dangerous.