'We are desperate': Josh Hawley begs Trump admin to send federal disaster aid
U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) speaks to reporters after the Senate was scheduled to vote on the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to be U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, U.S., February 13, 2025. REUTERS/Tierney L. Cross
After a spate of tornadoes ravaged the Midwest and caused billions of dollars in damage, many state governments are stll clamoring for President Donald Trump's administration to send federal disaster aid. This apparently includes Missouri, and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) is drawing attention to the fact that his ruby-red state is still waiting for federal help.
Rolling Stone reported Tuesday that Hawley used his time for questioning during a hearing with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to ask her directly for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to get critically needed resources to the Show Me State. Hawley pointed out that in addition to the recent tornadoes, Missouri is still waiting for help recovering from extreme weather that caused havoc across the state earlier this spring.
“The state has pending three requests for major disaster declarations from earlier storms [where] we’ve lost over a dozen people. Well, actually, if you count the folks we lost just on Friday, we’ve lost almost 20 people now in major storms just in the last two months in Missouri,” Hawley said. “Will you commit to helping, for those three major disaster declaration requests that are pending, will you expedite those, Secretary Noem, and get those in front of the president, get those approved?”
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"We are desperate for the assistance in Missouri," he added.
Rolling Stone's Nikki McCann Ramirez observed that Hawley's plea was particularly noteworthy as it came from a "prominent Republican lawmaker" who was effectively "begging a Republican administration to approve emergency aid for a Republican state." But Hawley's state isn't the only Republican-dominated jurisdiction still waiting for federal aid.
Earlier this month, Arkansas Republican Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders – who previously worked as Trump's White House press secretary — wrote a letter to the Trump administration asking her former boss to reconsider a previous rejection of federal disaster aid after deadly weather swept across her state in March and April.
Under Trump, FEMA has underwent multiple leadership shakeups. Former acting FEMA administrator Cameron Hamilton was fired in May after he publicly disagreed with Trump's plans to shut down the agency. FEMA's leadership crisis is also coinciding with the start of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season, which officially begins June 1. An internal review found that the agency is not ready for hurricane response efforts, largely due to issues surrounding "staffing and contracts."
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Click here to read Rolling Stone's full report (subscription required).
