Congress

Congress counters Trump with massive FEMA restructuring plan

Published

1 year ago

May 8, 2025

A bipartisan group of House members is drafting a sweeping bill to overhaul the Federal Emergency Management Agency — and in some cases expand its services — in an effort to head off President Donald Trump’s threats to shrink or abolish the agency.

Under the bill, FEMA could pay for major repairs to homes damaged in disasters, instead of only temporary fixes. The agency would be able to penalize states that don’t try to mitigate disasters, according to a detailed summary obtained by Blue Light News’s E&E News.

The bill also would remove FEMA from the Department of Homeland Security and make it an independent agency reporting directly to the president. The measure, which is described as a discussion draft, was written by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair Sam Graves, Republican of Missouri, and Washington Rep. Rick Larsen, the panel’s top Democrat.

Committee staffers explained the bill Wednesday in a private virtual conference with about 100 experts. E&E News listened in.

Committee Republicans and Democrats expect to publicly release the discussion draft Thursday.

“The administration has talked about finding a better way to support states taking the lead” in disaster response, Johanna Hardy, a subcommittee Republican staff director, said at the conference. The draft legislation by the committee “will help achieve those goals.”

Making FEMA a Cabinet-level agency “will better enable FEMA to support states and local governments,” Hardy said.

The bill could become Congress’ principal effort to try to influence the future of FEMA, which Trump has started cutting and intends to further weaken or abolish.

“The fact that the committee is moving on this is promising,” Manann Donoghoe, a senior research associate at Brookings Metro, said in an interview after listening to the virtual conference.

One cut by Trump — the cancellation of a multibillion-dollar grant program for states to protect against natural disasters — has drawn widespread and bipartisan opposition. Trump has discussed abolishing or shrinking FEMA and created an expert council to recommend changes.

On Wednesday, as House Transportation Committee staffers were explaining their bill, FEMA acting Administrator Cameron Hamilton bluntly told a House Appropriations subcommittee that the agency should not be abolished.

“I do not believe it is in the best interests of the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency,” Hamilton said in response to a question by the House Appropriations Committee’s top Democrat, Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut.

“Having said that, I’m not in a position to make a decision,” Hamilton added. “That is a conversation that should be had between the president of the United States and this governing body.”

Earlier in the hearing, Hamilton said the administration “is looking at policies and initiatives that encourage greater state participation” in disaster recovery.

Trump has been adamant about downsizing FEMA and giving states more responsibility for disaster recovery.

But the House bill would expand FEMA spending in at least one area, according to the 2,500-word summary and Transportation Committee staffers.

The bill would remove restrictions that limit FEMA to paying only for minor home repairs after a disaster and would create a “permanent repair program of owner-occupied homes,” the summary says.

“It would expand FEMA’s authority to continue to repair homes … past the point of habitability,” Lauren Gros, a Democratic committee staffer, told the conference.

“We learned FEMA was spending upwards of $300,000 on travel trailers” to temporarily house disaster victims, Gros said. “Why spend so much money on a temporary solution instead of a permanent solution?”

Under federal law, FEMA currently gives households only enough money — usually a few thousand dollars — to make their home habitable after a disaster. The policy has forced many households without homeowners insurance to live in temporary housing for long periods.

The bill also would urge FEMA to give “greater weight” to events that damage “economically distressed … or rural areas” in deciding whether to recommend that a president declare a disaster, the summary says. Presidents have the final and sole decision on whether to declare a damaged area a “major disaster,” entitling states to federal aid for cleanup and recovery.

FEMA typically pays 75 percent of disaster-recovery costs for states, which pay the remaining 25 percent.

But the House proposal would “incorporate cost-share sliding” that would let FEMA reimburse only 65 percent of costs “if a state were not doing appropriate mitigation measures,” Logan de La Barre-Hays, a Republican staffer on the House Transportation Committee, told the virtual conference.

FEMA could increase its reimbursement to 85 percent for states making significant improvements in their vulnerability to disasters.

It’s unclear how much effect the bill would have if it became law.

Presidents have almost complete discretion over disasters, including when to approve federal aid and how much to give.

Many of the 51 sections in the bill summary simply authorize FEMA or a president to take certain action.

Donoghoe of Brookings said “a lot of good ideas” are contained in the bill, which along with Trump’s executive orders “have put a spotlight on disaster-management reform in a way there hasn’t been in a while.”

Other people who watched the virtual presentation said the federal government needs to revise not just FEMA but its entire response to major disasters, which encompasses numerous departments.

But, Donoghoe added, “I have reservations about what can be accomplished in the current legislative environment.”

Congress

Mamdani boosts congressional slate ahead of primary election

Published

8 hours ago

June 19, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

NEW YORK — With just five days to go until the primary election in New York, Mayor Zohran Mamdani issued a stark warning to members of Congress who believe “incumbency is a substitute for action”: Watch out.

“People often ask me what I think of the state of the Democratic Party,” Mamdani said to the crowd at the Kings Theatre in Brooklyn as he boosted his endorsed congressional candidates. “This slate here today is our answer. The Democratic Party must change.”

The democratic socialist framed Tuesday’s election as much more than what that means for New York, though. In recounting how people also ask him about the 2028 presidential election, he put it bluntly: “It starts now. It starts on Tuesday.”

“For far too long, our party has seen its job as managing decline instead of delivering material change for working people,” Mamdani said. “That old way of thinking will lose on Tuesday. And frankly, it will lose in South Carolina and New Hampshire. It will fall short of 270 electoral votes, because the party of the past will not be what leads us into the future.”

Mamdani, joined by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, urged his supporters to show up for his endorsed candidates “the way you showed up for me.” They include former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who’s challenging two-term Rep. Dan Goldman; state Assemblymember Claire Valdez, who’s vying for retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez’s seat; and community organizer Darializa Avila Chevalier, who’s trying to unseat five-term Rep. Adriano Espaillat, the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

Mamdani’s endorsed slate of legislative candidates were at the rally, too.

The rally featured standard stump speeches from the candidates, highlighting the need to support working class New Yorkers and immigrants. Speakers called out the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel group that has loomed over many of these primaries — despite no evident spending from its independent expenditure arm. Sanders also emphasized his call to ban super PACs, which have reshaped primaries across the city.

Taking place just hours after the massive ticker-tape parade celebrating the Knicks’ historic championship, there were also Knicks references galore.

“I hate to break it to you, but OG Anunoby is not here to save the day,” said Mamdani, who was wearing a Knicks jersey under his suit. “The only hands we can count on are ours.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks during a get out the vote rally ahead of New York's primary election on June 18, 2026, in Brooklyn.

Sanders, who is wildly popular in New York, previously endorsed Valdez and Lander. Both Valdez and Avila Chevalier are members of the Democratic Socialists of America and are backed by the city chapter in their bids. Sanders had not officially endorsed Avila Chevalier prior to the rally.

“Why are progressives and socialist candidates winning elections all across this country?” Sanders asked. “The answer in my view is not complicated. The working class of America understands that our current economic system is rigged, that it is designed to benefit the wealthy and the powerful.”

Polling has shown Lander with a lead over Goldman, and a tight race for Velázquez’s seat. Public polling is scarce in the Espaillat race, but recent internal surveys suggest Avila Chevalier is posing a real challenge to the incumbent. Mamdani endorsed her just weeks ago, much later than Lander and Valdez, but his engagement in the race has significantly elevated its profile.

“Six months ago, they told us this race was over before it started,” Avila Chevalier said at the rally. “They told us Adriano was untouchable, that he was an institution, that you don’t run against someone like him and win. That this district was his, and that we should wait our turn. And they said it with such confidence, like the outcome had already been written. Look around. Look at what we’ve built.”

Mamdani’s decision to get involved in congressional races is stress-testing how the new mayor navigates relations with powerful, well-respected party figures — many of whom he’s on the opposite side of.

Mamdani’s endorsement is expected to be a significant asset for his picks; he had dominant performances across these districts in last year’s mayoral primary. And that shine doesn’t seem to have dulled. Recent polling has shown that Mamdani has high approval ratings.

Goldman did not support Mamdani during last year’s mayoral primary or the general election, as Lander has often pointed out. Espaillat backed former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the primary, but supported Mamdani in the general election. Valdez’s opponents, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and city Council Member Julie Won, both supported Mamdani in the primary.

The mayor has been active on the trail for his congressional candidates of choice in the closing stretch of the campaign. And he touted them all in an advertisement that ran during the first game of the Knicks’ finals run.

Still, Lander has tried to keep some distance. When asked at a recent press conference why he would appear in that ad with Avila Chevalier, who attended a pro-Palestinian rally the day after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack in 2023 — the same rally Lander said he left the DSA over — he said it was an “opportunity to show New Yorkers that politics can be a team sport.” He also clarified that he has not endorsed candidates in any other congressional primaries.

Avila Chevalier told reporters that she went to that rally to “stand against” Israel engaging in “a response that is often disproportionate and creates a greater loss of life.” She added that she has “condemned Hamas” and does “not believe that celebrating the loss of anybody’s life is OK.”

Kings Theatre isn’t located in any of the districts these congressional hopefuls are trying to represent — though it neighbors the seats that Lander and Valdez have their eyes on.

It’s especially far from Espaillat’s district, which includes parts of upper Manhattan and the Bronx.

While handing out campaign literature to people walking out of the subway in Hamilton Heights, Blue Light News asked Espaillat if he had thoughts about Avila Chevalier appearing at the rally.

“I’m rallying right here in my district with my constituents — not in Brooklyn,” he replied.

Jason Beeferman contributed to this report.

Congress

Meta faces calls for Congress to probe scam ads targeting seniors

Published

11 hours ago

June 18, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Retirement groups are calling on Congress to investigate Meta over a wave of social media scams targeting older Americans.

In a letter sent Thursday to House Homeland Security Committee Chair Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.) and ranking member Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the groups alleged Meta has been slow to take down fraudulent ads, leaving seniors vulnerable to financial loss. The letter, shared exclusively with POLITICO, was signed by the Alliance for Retired Americans, the American Postal Workers Union Retirees and the American Federation of Teachers, among others.

“Fraudulent Medicare ads have proliferated on Meta platforms and too many seniors are getting scammed while Meta profits,” said Richard Fiesta, executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans. “We are calling on Congress to investigate how these scams are allowed to spread, what Meta knew about them, and why stronger protections are not in place. Seniors should not be left vulnerable while scammers and tech companies cash in.”

The letter’s demands follow a report published last month by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a nonprofit advocacy group, which alleged that Meta has profited by leaving up fraudulent ads, many of which target Medicare recipients.

“Scammers are determined criminals who use increasingly sophisticated tactics to defraud people and evade detection,” Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said in a statement. “We aggressively fight scams on and off our platforms because they’re not good for us or the people and businesses that rely on our services and for years we’ve been one of law enforcement’s strongest partners in the fight against this type of online crime — identifying criminals, disrupting their crimes and helping bring them to justice.”

Stone pointed to several examples of Meta’s efforts to combat scams on its platform, including a recent collaboration with U.S. and Thai law enforcement to disrupt online scams.

It’s not the first time Meta has faced scrutiny over the scams: Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) urged the Federal Trade Commission and the Securities Exchange Commission to open an investigation into the company in November after Reuters reported that Meta in internal documents projected 10 percent of its 2024 revenue would come from fraudulent ads. And in February, a group of bipartisan lawmakers pressed Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg over its plans to prevent and combat fraud on its platforms.

Reps. Dan Meuser (R-Pa.) and Lou Correa (D-Calif.) also introduced bipartisan legislation earlier this year to combat predatory scam ads.

Congress

Congress lays out path for final passage of housing bill

Published

11 hours ago

June 18, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Congress is expected to send a landmark, bipartisan housing affordability bill to President Donald Trump’s desk by the end of next week as the Senate and House schedule action on the legislation in the coming days.

The Senate has teed up the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act for final passage on Monday, after completing all its necessary procedural votes this week.

The legislation will then move on to the House where GOP leadership plans to open debate on Wednesday, with a vote expected as early as the same day, according to six people familiar with the vote granted anonymity to discuss plans.

House leadership plans to suspend the rules, requiring a two-thirds majority vote, to speed up the bill’s path to Trump’s desk. Final passage could be pushed to Thursday depending on timing, the people said.

The housing bill aims to tackle housing affordability and boost homeownership and supply ahead of a midterm election dominated by cost-of-living concerns.

The four lawmakers leading the negotiations over the legislation — Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.), ranking member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), House Financial Services Chair French Hill (R-Ark.) and ranking member Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) — came to an agreement Tuesday afternoon after months of back and forth on the bill’s contents.

The housing affordability legislation, which the White House supports, contains a provision limiting the role of large institutional investors in the single-family housing market, which was a key condition for Trump to sign the bill.