After Texas floods, questions about FEMA's future loom large

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has been exerting more direct control over the agency, which President Donald Trump has talked about "getting rid of."

The devastating Texas flooding that has killed nearly 120 people is the first high-profile disaster the Federal Emergency Management Agency has faced during the current Trump administration. But while the loss of life has been catastrophic, former and current FEMA officials told NBC News that the relatively small geographic area affected means it’s not a true test of what the agency, whose full-time staff has been shrunk by a third, is capable of doing in the wake of a disaster. The real tryout could come later this summer, they say, when there is always the threat that a hurricane could hit several states. As the agency’s future is debated — President Donald Trump has talked about possibly “getting rid of” it — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who oversees it, has tightened her grip. Noem now requires that all agency spending over $100,000 be personally approved by her, according to current and former FEMA officials. To prevent delays on the ground, on Monday FEMA officials created a task force to speed up the process of getting Noem’s approval, according to two people familiar with that unit. While Noem has been exercising more direct control over the agency, there is a void created by the largely voluntary exodus of FEMA leaders. In May, the agency announced in an internal email the departures of 16 senior officials who took with them a combined disaster expertise of more than 200 years. “DHS and its components have taken an all-hands-on-desk approach to respond to recovery efforts in Kerrville,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement to NBC News. “Under Secretary Noem and Acting Administrator [David] Richardson, FEMA is shifting from bloated, DC-centric dead weight to a lean, deployable disaster force that empowers state actors to provide relief for their citizens. The old processes are being replaced because they failed Americans in real emergencies for decades. … Secretary Noem is delivering accountability to the U.S. taxpayer, which Washington bureaucrats have ignored for decades at the expense of American citizens.”

On Wednesday afternoon, officials gathered for the second meeting of the FEMA Review Council, which the president has set up to determine the agency's future role. Trump told reporters in early June, “We want to wean off of FEMA, and we want to bring it down to the state level.” As of now FEMA still has the same mandate and is managing more than 700 open disasters, according to Chris Currie, who tracks and audits the agency for the Government Accountability Office. “They are not doing anything different. They are just doing it with less people,” he said in an interview.

I don’t talk to the CEO.

I don’t talk to the CEO. I ask: Who runs your social media? Because if you can’t acquire customers profitably, you don’t have a business, I’m not interested.

Polls show Americans largely oppose Trump's 'One Big Beautiful Bill,' but are more split on Medicaid, immigration specifics

 

As the "One Big Beautiful Bill" tax and policy bill championed by President Donald Trump winds its way through votes in Congress, polling taken across the past month shows Americans largely disapprove – but are more split when it comes to their views on some of its provisions.

Trump has emphasized that he believes Americans support his bill as emblematic of the agenda he campaigned on. He told reporters at a promotional event on Thursday, "Almost every major promise made in the 2024 campaign already will have become a promise kept. That's very important."

Trump says he'll 'look' at deporting Musk as feud reignites

 President Donald Trump told reporters Tuesday his administration will "have to take a look" at deporting Elon Musk after the billionaire reignited the feud with the president over his spending bill.

Musk, a South African national and a naturalized U.S. citizen, made several weekend X posts slamming Republicans over the "Big Beautiful Bill," arguing that it was adding more debt.

"It is obvious with the insane spending of this bill, which increases the debt ceiling by a record FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS that we live in a one-party country – the PORKY PIG PARTY!!," Musk posted Monday afternoon. In political terms,"pork" generally refers to spending in lawmakers' constituencies.

"How can you call yourself the Freedom Caucus if you vote for a DEBT SLAVERY bill with the biggest debt ceiling increase in history?On Saturday Musk posted that the “latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country!” and labeled the bill “Utterly insane and destructive.”

Musk’s posts were some of the billionaire’s first comments regarding the bill in several weeks, after he initially blasted it as a “disgusting abomination” in early June as he was leaving the Trump administration, sparking a public -- yet brief -- spat with the president.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

 

Trump says he'd like to see facilities like 'Alligator Alcatraz' in other states

"I mean, you don't always have land so beautiful and so secure. They have a lot of bodyguards and a lot of cops that are in the form of alligators. You don’t have to pay them so much but I wouldn't want to run through the Everglades for long. It will keep people where they're supposed to be. This is a very important thing," he said.White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump's visit would be a chance for the president to tout the funding for more detention facilities and efforts to enact Trump's mass deportation policy that are in his megabill that the Senate could vote on Tuesday before sending to the House before Trump's Fourth of July deadline.
"I think his trip to this detention facility actually underscores the need to pass the One Big, Beautiful Bill because we need more detention facilities across the country," Leavitt said.
A source familiar with the planning tells ABC it will cost Florida $450 million a year, and officials say some of that money will be reimbursed from FEMA's Shelter and Services Program.
Leavitt described the facility's remote location in her briefing on Monday.

"There's only one road leading in, and the only way out is a one-way flight," she said. "It is isolated and surrounded by dangerous wildlife and unforgiving terrain. The facility will have up to 5,000 beds to house, process and deport criminal illegal aliens."

"This is an efficient and low-cost way to help carry out the largest mass deportation campaign in American history," Leavitt added.

When asked about the remote and dangerous location, Leavitt said that it was a feature of the facility to help prevent detainees from escaping.

"Well look, when you have illegal murderers and rapists and heinous criminals in a detention facility surrounded by alligators, yes, I do think that's a deterrent for them to try to escape," she said. "We do know that some of these illegal criminals have escaped from other detention facilities, like one in New Jersey, which I know was recently reported on. So, of course, we want to keep the American people safe, and we want to remove these public safety threats from our streets, and we want to effectively detain them as best as we can."

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier posted on X that the facility is a “one stop shop” to carry out Trump’s mass deportation agenda, claiming the location saves money on security since it’s surrounded by dangerous animals.

 

Thune says Senate is sending House a 'really strong product'

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, celebrating after steering the approval of President Trump’s megabill, nodded to all of the “work” that went into its passage.

“This doesn't happen easily, for sure, and in this case, it took a lot of time and probably a lot less sleep than I think most people were hoping for. But in the end, we got the job done, and we're delighted to be able to be partners with President Trump and his agenda, an agenda that is the right one for the American people, the one that they voted for last November," he told reporters at the Capitol.Thune also acknowledged the difficulty House Republicans might have in passing the package as it now heads their way, but said he delivered them a “strong product.”

“Well, we'll see. I mean, you know how hard it was to pass it -- I think the House, I appreciate the narrow margins they have over there … but I think we gave a really strong product,” he said.

“I think we took what they sent us and strengthened and improved upon it. And so I'm hopeful that now, when it gets sent over there, as they deliberate about how they want to handle it, they'll find the goals that are necessary to pass it,” Thune added.

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Good Boss: Elon Musk hosted a birthday celebration for a staff member’s 5-year-old son, stepping in while the father worked overtime at his company. A touching gesture that shows leadership with heart.