Where We Stand:
Fill FEMA, NOAA roles quickly.
The 2017 hurricane season opened this month amid a leadership vacuum in Washington, D.C. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which prepares for hurricanes and directs relief to their victims, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which tracks storms, are both missing permanent administrators.
Patience is understandably wearing thin among members of Congress from Florida, which has more homes at risk from hurricanes than any other state. “These agencies are critical in keeping Floridians safe,” said Vern Buchanan, a Republican from Longboat Key. “I’m a big proponent of hurricane preparedness and part of being prepared is having key personnel in place.”
President Trump and the U.S. Senate need to put a higher priority on filling top jobs at both agencies.
In April the Trump administration nominated a new director for FEMA, former Alabama emergency administrator Brock Long, but he hasn’t been confirmed by the Senate. The administration hasn’t even put forward a new chief for NOAA, which oversees the National Hurricane Center and the National Weather Service, and has predicted a busier than usual storm season this year. In the meantime, both agencies are being run by interim administrators.
During the Obama administration, FEMA was led by Craig Fugate, a former director of Florida’s Division of Emergency Management under Govs. Charlie Crist and Jeb Bush. Fugate, who began his career as a firefighter in Florida, masterfully managed the state’s response to seven hurricanes in 2004 and 2005. At FEMA, he handled more than 500 major disasters and emergencies, more than any other director in its history, and rehabilitated the agency’s damaged reputation.
Local and state governments have the primary responsibility to lead in preparations for hurricanes and other disasters, and to deliver assistance to victims afterward. But sometimes their capabilities and resources get overwhelmed by the size and severity of disasters. That’s when Americans count on FEMA.
There’s a two-word reminder to anyone who doesn’t think leadership at FEMA matters: Michael Brown. He was the official in charge of the agency in 2005 when it fumbled the federal response to Hurricane Katrina. He got sacked, just 10 days after then-President George W. Bush infamously declared, “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.”
Leadership at FEMA especially matters for Florida. Gov. Rick Scott has requested funding from the agency on at least 10 occasions. After two hurricanes, Hermine and Matthew, struck the state last year, FEMA paid out more than $100 million in Florida to bolster recovery efforts at state and local agencies and satisfy more than 10,000 individual damage claims.
Fugate recently told the Tampa Bay Times that the career officials in charge for the time being at FEMA and NOAA are good administrators, but the agencies need political appointees to stand up for them in policy debates within the administration and with Congress. The need is more important than ever now that Trump’s 2018 budget proposal calls for funding to be slashed at both agencies — 18 percent from NOAA’s budget of almost $6 billion, and 11 percent from FEMA’s budget of $3.6 billion.
Florida’s senior U.S. senator, Democrat Bill Nelson, has vowed to fight the cuts. Scott, his likely Republican opponent in next year’s Senate race, should stand with him.
Meanwhile, much more urgency is needed in the administration and Senate to put permanent leaders in charge at FEMA and NOAA. As Buchanan pointed out, “We don’t know when the next big storm is going to hit.”