Major Winter Storm to Test FEMA After Trump Staffing Cuts

Axios reports that a massive winter storm expected to hit this weekend, threatening dangerous multi‑day power outages for more than 160 million Americans, will be FEMA’s first big rapid, multi‑state activation since the Trump administration began cutting the agency’s workforce. According to an internal memo, FEMA has deployed more than 20 staff to state emergency operations centers and three Incident Management Assistance Teams, with 15 more on standby, and says 28 Urban Search and Rescue teams plus its national and regional coordination centers are mobilized. The White House insists there is no politicization of disaster aid and says Trump remains committed to having states invest in their own resilience, even as critics note he and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem have floated dismantling FEMA and been accused of denying aid along partisan lines. The article also notes the administration tried to kill FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities mitigation program until states sued and won, despite FEMA’s own estimate that every mitigation dollar saves about six in future disaster costs. CNN reporting cited in the piece says FEMA had planned to cut roughly half its workforce this year, with about 300 employees already let go this month, though some reductions are on pause as the storm approaches, raising questions about the agency’s readiness if the event resembles Texas’ deadly 2021 freeze.