Kristi Noem, the secretary of homeland security, was even blunter during a March cabinet meeting, when she said point-blank: “We are going to eliminate FEMA.”
But now, as the administration contends with the deadly flooding in Texas, Mr. Trump and his aides are no longing speaking about a wholesale demolishing of the agency. With the nation’s attention focused on the need for the federal government to effectively respond to disasters, White House officials are emphasizing instead their plans to overhaul the agency, saying that was the intent all along.
“We want FEMA to work well,” Russell T. Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, told reporters on Friday. “And, you know, the president is going to continue to be asking tough questions from all of his agencies.”
The whipsawing remarks have added to a sense of confusion about the future of FEMA, which is struggling with the loss of top officials, including the departure of Cameron Hamilton as its acting director in May. Mr. Hamilton was pushed out of the job after he told members of Congress that the agency was vital to communities “in their greatest times of need,” shortly after Ms. Noem testified that “FEMA as it exists today should be eliminated.”
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