Meeting about FEMA reforms abruptly canceled, AP source says

A meeting by a council appointed by President Donald Trump that was meant to announce recommended reforms to the Federal Emergency Management Agency was abruptly canceled Thursday, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The FEMA Review Council was scheduled to meet Thursday afternoon at 1 p.m. EST, and Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem, the council's co-chair, left a Congressional hearing early because she said she needed to go the meeting.

The Department of Homeland Security referred questions about the meeting’s cancellation to the White House, which did not respond to requests for comment. The person familiar with the development, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss it publicly, did not give a reason for the cancellation.

Trump created the FEMA Review Council by executive order in late January, the same day he proposed eliminating FEMA after touring destruction wrought by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina.

Council members were to present and vote on a recommendations report at the Thursday meeting. The public was invited to attend virtually and would have until Dec. 31 to submit comment on the report. Members of the public planning to attend the meeting virtually never received the link to participate or any notice of the change.

Former officials and experts told The Associated Press they were impressed by the level of care taken by the council to solicit input from experts and community members and craft meaningful reforms, but the process grew more contentious as it reached its end.

An initial draft of the much-anticipated report was slashed by Noem’s office from over 160 pages to around 20, people familiar with the developments told the AP in November, leading some council members to worry some recommendations would be removed while others not endorsed by the council could be added.

The president has repeatedly said he wants to push more responsibility for disaster preparedness, response and recovery to the states, and said in June that if a governor couldn’t handle a disaster’s aftermath, “ maybe they shouldn’t be governor.”

The council is co-chaired by Noem and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Its 12 members include emergency managers and elected officials almost exclusively from Republican-led states, including the emergency management directors of Texas and Florida, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant.

If he embraces the reforms, Trump has the authority to implement some changes himself, while others would require an act of Congress.