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Current and former employees of the Federal Emergency Management Agency demonstrated against workforce and program cuts.FEMA “solidarity rally” on Friday, a potentially risky act of protest as some of the same employees were placed on leave after signing a public dissent letter in August.
A few dozen people gathered outside FEMA headquarters in Washington, D.C. and met with the President donald trump Stop dismantling the agency that manages federal disaster response. He warned that dismantling FEMA, which the President had suggested considering, would endanger lives and harm communities.
“It’s clear that these disasters are becoming more frequent and more intense,” said Jeremy Edwards, the agency’s deputy director of public affairs under the president. Joe BidenSaid at the rally. “Our country needs FEMA now more than ever. And right now, FEMA needs us, too.”
The demonstration was also a call for support for FEMA staff members, who have been on paid administrative leave for nearly two months after signing a public dissent letter in August. That letter criticized the Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and other Trump officials to cut staff and programs.
Phoenix Gibson, one of the few current FEMA employees to publicly sign a letter of dissent, said, “Trying as they may to crush us, we are not backing down and we are fighting fiercely.”
FEMA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the rally.
Protesters waved signs that read, “FEMA saves lives” and “Go away FEMA,” while speakers paid tribute to FEMA’s workers and mission, which they said have been attacked by the Trump administration.
FEMA veterans recall proud moments when they helped deploy search and rescue teams after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, or helped put tarps on people’s roofs after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Michael Coen, FEMA chief of staff in the Obama and Biden administrations, said the staff’s commitment to helping people compelled him “to warn Congress and the American people about the broader implications of the decisions being made by the current administration.”
Organizers said they want Noem to reinstate the signers of the August Proclamation, for Acting Administrator David Richardson to resign and for FEMA employees to no longer be required to assist U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
Trump has repeatedly floated the idea of ​​dismantling or phasing out FEMA, though the rhetoric has changed in recent months. Noem often says that FEMA should be abolished “as it exists today” and replaced with something new.
There has been turmoil in the agency since January. According to the Government Accountability Office, about 18% of the agency’s permanent full-time staff are gone, including 24 senior-level staff.
The administration has also cut resiliency and preparedness funding. Noem’s requirement to personally approve any spending over $100,000 has drawn sharp criticism and was even blamed for delays in deploying search and rescue teams after deadly flooding in Texas in July.
Trump appoints 12-member FEMA review council led by Noem and Defense Secretary pete hegsethIt is expected to submit its recommendations around December.
Any major changes to FEMA’s authority would require action by Congress. Lawmakers in the House introduced the bipartisan “FEMA Act” this summer, which calls for returning FEMA to a Cabinet-level agency, deploying project-based grants instead of reimbursements, and creating a single application for all federal disaster assistance to survivors, among other reforms.
Rally organizers said they support the bill.