Senators: “FEMA has long struggled to recruit and train enough skilled workers, a problem that the current Administration’s policies and decisions has exacerbated.” 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Rural Development, Energy, and Credit, joined U.S. Senator Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security Subcommittee on Governmental Affairs, and U.S. Senator Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, and a group of Democratic Senators in condemning proposed staffing cuts at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). In their letter to Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem, the Senators highlight how the Trump Administration’s planned cuts would risk the FEMA’s ability to fulfill its mandated duties supporting communities and protecting people’s lives and livelihoods.  

The Senators also outline the considerable damage already done by the Trump Administration’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuts, how DHS mandated reductions violate congressional statute put in place to bolster FEMA’s disaster response after Hurricane Katrina, and specifically warned about any further cuts to critical On-Call Response/Recovery Employees (CORE).  

Joining Senators Welch, Kim, and Peters on the letter are Sens. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).   

“Reducing CORE employees at a time when FEMA’s workforce is already severely understaffed due to the Administration’s efforts to dismantle FEMA will only make our nation less prepared to help communities before, during, and after disasters,” wrote the Senators. “Additionally, the personnel decisions your office has taken most certainly reduce FEMA’s ability to perform its mission, raising concerns about potential violations of the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act (PKEMRA).”  

FEMA CORE employees make up approximately 40% of FEMA’s workforce and are deployed, as needed, to disaster areas to assist with response and recovery. In 2023, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that in recent years, the gap between planning staffing targets and actual levels grew to almost 35% deficits across various positions.  

The Senators continue: “Any gap, let alone a 35% shortfall in workforce target numbers, means that FEMA lacks the staff needed to properly respond to disasters. On top of this gap, the additional reductions reported by GAO in 2025 led the oversight watchdog to conclude ‘that a reduced number of staff across the same or a higher number of disasters nationwide could reduce the effectiveness of federal disaster response for upcoming disasters.’”  

The Senators further outline how the Trump Administration’s workforce reductions appear to violate PKEMRA, a requirement Congress imposed after DHS’s catastrophic interference in FEMA’s response to Hurricane Katrina that prohibits the DHS Secretary from substantially or significantly reducing FEMA’s authorities, responsibilities, or functions, or the capability of the agency to perform those missions, authorities, responsibilities.  

In their letter, the Senators make clear: “By unilaterally reducing the number of FEMA personnel, you are clearly hindering FEMA’s ability to perform its mission, in clear violation of statute.”  

Senator Welch has been outspoken in opposing any attempt by the Trump Administration to dismantle FEMA. In July, Senator Welch called for the resignation of Secretary Noem citing, in part, her mismanagement of FEMA. Senator Welch also published a guest essay in The New York Times entitled: “Don’t Kill FEMA. Fix It.” In his piece, Senator Welch outlined why President Trump and Secretary Noem’s actions to undermine and potentially dissolve FEMA are misguided—but also committed to working on good faith efforts to reform the agency’s long-term recovery process.   

Read and download the Senators’ full letter to DHS Secretary Noem. 

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