Congress

Lawmakers introduce bill to break FEMA out of DHS

The FEMA Independence Act would have the agency report directly to the president. It comes as the Trump administration takes steps to reshape and reduce FEMA.

Justin Doubleday@jdoubledayWFED

March 24, 2025 3:52 pm

4 min read

Lawmakers are pushing a bill to move the Federal Emergency Management Agency out from under the Department of Homeland Security amid evolving debates about the future of FEMA under the Trump administration.

The FEMA Independence Act, introduced today by Reps. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) and Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), would make FEMA an independent, Cabinet-level agency that reports directly to the president. Moskowitz, a former Florida director of emergency management, has long argued FEMA should be an independent agency.

“As the first emergency management director ever elected to Congress, I’ve seen firsthand the challenges preparing for, responding to, and recovering from disaster events,” Moskowitz said in statement. “As these emergencies continue to grow larger and more widespread, the American people deserve a federal response that is efficient and fast. To achieve that, FEMA should be reformed.

“DHS has become too big and too slow to oversee what needs to be a quick and flexible emergency response,” Moskowitz added.

Under the bill, FEMA would be led by a Senate-confirmed director. The director would be required to have “a demonstrated ability in and knowledge of emergency management and homeland security” across the public and private sectors.

The agency would also have up to four deputy directors, subject to Senate confirmation, along with 10 regional directors chosen by the top director.

“FEMA has become overly-bureaucratic, overly-politicized, overly-inefficient, and substantial change is needed to best serve the American people,” Donalds said in a statement. “When disaster strikes, quick and effective action must be the standard — not the exception. It is imperative that FEMA is removed from the bureaucratic labyrinth of DHS and instead is designated to report directly to the president of the United States.”

The bill is under the joint jurisdiction of the House Homeland Security Committee and the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

The legislation comes as the Trump administration has moved to reshape and reduce FEMA. In the first week of his new presidency, President Donald Trump criticized the agency’s response to Hurricane Helene. He said states should oversee more disaster response activities, adding, “I think we’re going to recommend that FEMA go away.”

Trump then launched a FEMA Review Council to recommend reforms to the agency. The council is slated to hold its first meeting by April 24.

FEMA last month also fired more than 200 probationary employees. FEMA’s acting head recently signaled more staff cuts are on the way.

Moskowitz and Donalds argue FEMA should be overhauled — in addition to becoming a direct report to the president — but not eliminated.

“By removing FEMA from the Department of Homeland Security and restoring its status as an independent, cabinet-level agency, my bipartisan bill will help cut red tape, improve government efficiency, and save lives,” Moskowitz said. “It will also help refocus FEMA on its original mission: as an agency tasked with responding before, during, and after disaster events. FEMA is meant to be an emergency management agency, but right now, it functions more as a grant agency with emergency management capabilities. This commonsense bill will help set those priorities back where they should be.”

Questions about whether FEMA should be a part of DHS have simmered for two decades. FEMA had previously been an independent agency before the Homeland Security Act of 2002 moved it under DHS.

The agency and the broader federal government then came under fire for its response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Some members of Congress pushed for it to be moved out from under DHS at that time. While the Post-Katrina Reform Act bolstered FEMA’s independence within DHS, the law kept the agency as a departmental component.

Proponents of shifting FEMA out from under DHS argue the emergency management agency needs a direct line to the president to be effective. They also say FEMA is buried at DHS, hamstrung by a bureaucracy that also handles immigration enforcement, border security, and a range of other missions.

Opponents of removing from DHS have argued the agency benefits from being part of an integrated department focused on homeland security. FEMA relies on a range of partnerships across federal, state and local governments.

“Keeping FEMA within DHS improves efforts to reform our nation’s emergency response system, allows for better coordination among agencies, facilitates partnerships among emergency responders, and advances an all-hazards approach,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said in 2009 after Obama administration officials said they would keep FEMA under DHS.