FEMA funds

Lawsuit led by Calif. Attorney General seeks to restore FEMA disaster funds cut by Trump

East County News Service

Photo:  2007 Harris Fire in Potrero, one of many wildfires for which FEMA provided disaster relief funds in our region

September 30, 2025 (Sacramento) -- California Attorney General Rob Bonta, as part of a multistate coalition, yesterday sought emergency relief from the U.S. District Court for the District Court of Rhode Island to stop the unlawful reallocation of hundreds of millions of dollars in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Homeland Security Grant Program funding away from states like California.

President Donald Trump has said he plans to eliminate FEMA completely as early as December and return responsibility for disaster prevention, response and relief for survivors entirely to states. “"We want to wean off of FEMA, and we want to bring it back to the state level," the president said in JUNE, NPR reported, adding that the agency would immediately "give out less money" to states recovering from disasters.


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.

FEDERAL SHUTDOWN HALTS CONTROLLED BURNS IN CLEVELAND NATIONAL FOREST

By Miriam Raftery

File photo: Dead trees smoulder during controlled burn in San Diego’s East County

January 10, 2019 (San Diego’s East County) – Putting all San Diego County residents at higher risk of a major wildfire, winter controlled burning of two to three thousand acres in Cleveland National Forest have been put on hold due to the federal shutdown, fire officials have advised ECM news partner 10 News.


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.

TRUMP THREATENS TO HALT FEMA PAYMENTS TO CALIFORNIA WILDFIRE VICTIMS, DRAWS BIPARTISAN CRITICISM

 

 

To threaten federal disaster funding is a grave insult to our fire-scarred region and a slap in the face of our brave firefighters. The President and the Governor need to work together and put the public’s safety over politics. I know the county will do its part by continuing to make major investments to improve firefighting and fire prevention.  Supervisor Dianne Jacob

By Miriam Raftery

January 10, 2019 (San Diego) -- President Donald Trump on Wednesday stating that he has ordered a halt to Federal Emergency Management Act (FEMA) funds for California wildfire survivors. His threat has drawn sharp bipartisan criticism from leaders ranging from California’s new Governor to East County’s Supervisor Dianne Jacoband conservative legislators representing fire-ravaged communities.


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.