Oklahoma has been at the center of reform talks regarding the Federal Emergency Management Agency for months, as the Trump administration mulls over what its future should be. On Thursday, its governor said the state is eager to do away with the existing model.
At a FEMA Review Council meeting in Oklahoma City, Gov. Kevin Stitt argued that the federal government should give block grants with lots of flexibility to states for disaster response. Stitt was critical of the high administrative costs and bureaucratic red tape that he said were defining characteristics of FEMA today.
“We know our land, we know our people, and we know how to respond faster, leaner and smarter than Washington ever could. That’s the ‘Oklahoma standard,’ and that should be the American standard,” Stitt said.
Other Oklahoma officials, including federal and state lawmakers, have said they were open to an overhaul of FEMA that lets states take on more of the disaster-response burden. That’s despite the agency approving millions last year in disaster response for Oklahoma and the Trump administration earlier this year denying disaster-resiliency grants to the state, leaving it to handle preparations for future disasters.
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“Today and this week, you guys are gonna spend a lot of time talking about how to best respond to disasters nationwide,” Stitt said. “It’s our experience that FEMA’s response to disasters is not necessarily effective or efficient.”
The review council was established by an executive order in January and is tasked with advising the Trump administration on how FEMA can best function. The council has been asking for public feedback and held two other public meetings in recent weeks.
President Donald Trump used Oklahoma as an example in late January when he first floated the idea of overhauling — and, later, maybe getting rid of — FEMA. After flooding in July killed more than 100 people in Texas, a White House official told The Washington Post that it’s not set to dissolve the agency and would instead reform it to have states take on more of a role in disaster response.
Other officials at the meeting Thursday were effusive in their praise for Oklahoma.
Former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant said there’s no better emulation of what the Trump administration’s disaster response agenda should look like than the “Oklahoma standard.” Miami-Dade County’s sheriff, Rosie Cordero-Stutz, suggested it should become the country’s standard. And Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia said he liked Stitt’s philosophy, too.
“I do firmly believe that the standard that exists in our emergency response personnel is exactly that — a standard to run to danger when others run away, a standard to put others’ interests ahead of their own, a standard to recognize that the first order of business is saving lives,” Youngkin said. “That is a standard that not just reflects Oklahoma’s character, but I think it reflects the character of the entire country.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who at the beginning of the meeting also praised Stitt, said every disaster should be “locally executed,” “state-led” and supported by the federal government.
“FEMA needs to be more responsive,” Noem said Thursday. “This agency as it exists today needs to be eliminated and reformed into an agency that is supporting our local and state officials.”
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This story was produced as part of a partnership between NOTUS and Oklahoma Watch.
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