Workers, community members and business owners clean up debris in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in Marshall, North Carolina, on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
"By releasing this discussion draft legislation, we hope to engage our colleagues and stakeholders on comprehensive FEMA reform," Graves said in a Thursday statement. "This draft bill includes substantive changes that will transform FEMA and our emergency programs to be much more state and locally driven – not micro-managed into ineffectiveness by the federal government."
While Trump and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have voiced support for eradicating FEMA, the former acting administrator of FEMA, Cameron Hamilton, warned against gutting the agency on Wednesday.
"I do not believe it is in the best interest of the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency," Hamilton told lawmakers on the House Appropriations committee on Wednesday.
"Having said that, I’m not in a position to make a decision," Hamilton said. "That is a conversation that should be had between the president of the United States and this governing body."
However, Hamilton, who previously served as a hospital corpsman in the U.S. Navy with SEAL Team 8 and started leading FEMA in January, was ousted from his post Thursday.
ACTING FEMA ADMINISTRATOR OUT AFTER PUSHING BACK AGAINST TRUMP'S AGENCY PLANS
Former acting FEMA Administrator Cam Hamilton, who previously served as a hospital corpsman in the U.S. Navy with SEAL Team 8 and started leading FEMA in January, was ousted from his post Thursday. (Pete Marovich/Getty Images)
FEMA confirmed to Fox News Digital Thursday that Hamilton was no longer with the agency.
Days after his inauguration in January, Trump visited North Carolina to oversee the state's efforts to recover from Hurricane Helene, more than 120 days after the storm struck the state. On the trip, Trump floated plans to gut FEMA, which oversaw the disaster relief efforts.
"I'll also be signing an executive order to begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA, or maybe getting rid of FEMA," Trump told reporters in North Carolina. "I think, frankly, FEMA is not good."
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The executive order established a review council to evaluate potential reforms to FEMA, including whether the agency’s bureaucracy restricts its ability to appropriately respond to disasters. Likewise, Trump’s budget proposal includes plans to slash nearly $650 million in FEMA grants.
On Tuesday, Noem told lawmakers that Trump stands by his statements that FEMA’s current setup should be quashed.
"He believes that FEMA and its response in many, many circumstances has failed the American people, and that FEMA as it exists today should be eliminated," Noem said.
Diana Stancy is a politics reporter with Fox News Digital covering the White House.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-lawmakers-odds-over-whether-fema-should-elevated-cabinet-level-agency-completely-overhauled