President Donald Trump approved a major disaster declaration for Alaska, Nebraska, North Dakota and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe late Wednesday, while rejecting requests from Vermont, Illinois and Maryland and leaving other states still waiting for answers.
The decisions were made mostly along partisan lines, with Trump touting on social media on Wednesday that he “won dramatically” Alaska in the last three presidential elections and that it was an “honor” for him to perform for “incredible patriots” in Missouri, a state he also won three times.
Disaster declarations allow FEMA to support recipients of federal financial assistance to repair public infrastructure damaged by disasters and, in some cases, provide funds to survivors for repairs and temporary housing.
While Trump has approved more disaster declarations than he has denied this year, he has repeatedly floated the idea of “ Phasing out Federal Emergency Management Agency, saying it wants states to take more responsibility in disaster response and recovery. States already take the lead in disaster situations, but rely on federal assistance when needs exceed what they can manage on their own.
Trump also took longer to approve disaster declaration requests than any previous administration, including the first, according to the New York Times. Associated Press analysis.
States approved for disaster declarations include Alaska, which subsequently submitted an expedited application There are successive storms this month Which destroyed coastal villages, displaced 2,000 residents and killed at least one person. Trump agreed to a 100% cost share of disaster-related expenses for 90 days.
North Dakota and Nebraska will also receive public assistance for severe weather in August, and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota has been approved for both public and individual assistance with a June storm that felled thousands of trees across their tribal lands.
Trump rejected four requests, including Maryland’s request to reconsider after the state was denied a disaster declaration due to May floods that severely affected the state’s two westernmost counties.
Democratic Gov. Wes Moore denounced the decision in a statement Thursday, calling the final rejection “extremely disappointing.”
“President Trump and his administration have politicized disaster relief, and our communities are the ones who will pay the price,” Moore said. The state is supporting affected individuals itself, distributing more than $450,000 for the first time from the State Disaster Recovery Fund.
Maryland met the requirements to qualify for public assistance, according to an initial damage assessment, but Trump, who has the final decision on ads, denied the state’s request in July. Maryland appealed in August with additional data showing that counties suffered $33.7 million in damages, according to the state, more than three times the federal aid threshold.
Trump also denied declaring Vermont a major disaster for the July 10 floods after the state waited more than nine weeks to make a decision. Eric Forand, Vermont’s director of emergency management, said the damage is far beyond what some of the affected small towns can handle on their own.
“Fixing those roads is way beyond the annual or biennial budget (of some cities),” Forand said.
Other denials included a request from Illinois for individual assistance for three counties affected in July by severe storms and flooding, and one from Alaska to rebuild a public safety building that burned in an electrical fire in July.
In response to a question about the reason for the states’ refusal, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said: “President Trump is providing a more comprehensive review of disaster declaration requests than any administration before him.” She said Trump was “ensuring that states use America’s tax dollars appropriately and effectively to supplement — not replace — their commitment to disaster response and recovery.”
Several states and one tribe are still waiting for their requests to be decided.
Not knowing whether public assistance is coming can delay vital projects, especially for small areas with limited budgets, and sometimes leaves survivors without any help to secure temporary housing or repair homes that are now too dangerous to live in.
Before it was approved Wednesday, the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe was scrambling to cover the costs of removing thousands of trees that fell across their reservation due to a lightning storm in June. As a tribe, it has the right to apply for assistance independently of the state in which it is located.
The tribe has spent about $1.5 million of its own money so far, said Duane Othodt, director of emergency operations for the Leech Lake Police Department.
Just hours before he was notified of the disaster declaration, nine weeks after submitting the request, Othodt said the tribe “was doing a lot of maneuvering, using reserve funding to operate and continue paying our contractors.”
With the approval of federal funding for public and individual assistance, Othodt said Thursday that the one-man emergency management division will focus on helping survivors first.
“There is a lot of work to be done,” he said. “People have been caught by storm.”
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Associated Press writer Brian Witt in Annapolis, Maryland, contributed.