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Project 2025 Calls for Cutting FEMA Aid & Dismantling NOAA
Project 2025 proposes cutting FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Association) funding and dismantling and privatizing NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). Gutting NOAA, which includes the National Weather Service, will leave states suffering and Americans stranded, during a time when the U.S. faces ever-more severe and frequent natural disasters. Imagine that instead of government aid helping people prepare for and recover from storms like hurricane Helene or Milton, the federal government does not help track or respond to natural disasters.
What is FEMA?
FEMA coordinates federal disaster response and recovery efforts. It provides aid, such as temporary housing and infrastructure repair, and helps communities prepare for future disasters. FEMA also deploys specialized teams for emergency support when disasters strike.
How will Project 2025 Impact FEMA?
Project 2025’s agenda calls for:
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Cutting FEMA aid: Project 2025 calls for changing FEMA emergency spending to shift the majority of preparedness and response costs to states and localities instead of the federal government,” and to “provide states and localities with a limited federal emergency response and preparedness” (page 135).
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Eliminating the FEMA National Flood Insurance Program: Project 2025 calls for letting private corporations control and profit off of providing or denying Americans flood insurance while acknowledging that doing so will increase costs. In their words: “Washington provides insurance at prices lower than the actuarially fair rate, thereby subsidizing flood insurance” (pages 153-54).
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Weaponizing FEMA Funding: During disasters, Americans are all on the same team—working towards the common goal of saving as many lives as possible. However, Project 2025 does the opposite, calling for the weaponization of FEMA funding to force states to comply with tracking and surveillance of states’ residents via complete information sharing of voter registration and motor vehicle registration data (page 137). As Project 2025 architect Kevin Roberts said: “there are some cities, some states, that at least in the near term, aren’t worth our time, right? They’re not worth our tax money.”
What is NOAA?
NOAA’s mission is to monitor and understand Earth’s climate, weather, ocean and coasts. NOAA is home to the National Hurricane Center, which tracks and predicts severe weather events, the Office of Marine and Aviation Operations, whose pilots fly “hurricane hunter” planes directly into cyclones to measure their wind speed and hone the agency’s predictions, and the National Weather Service (NWS), which delivers essential weather forecasts, warnings, and real-time data to safeguard American lives.
How will Project 2025 Impact NOAA?
Project 2025’s agenda calls for:
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Dismantling NOAA: Project 2025 states that NOAA “should be dismantled and many of its functions eliminated, sent to other agencies, privatized, or placed under the control of states and territories” (page 644).
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Eliminating NWS public-facing forecasts: Project 2025 calls for the NWS to eliminate its public-facing forecasts and otherwise “fully commercialize its forecasting operations” (page 675). Commercializing NWS data risks “a future where private outfits charge subscriptions for their weather reports, and only some municipalities are able to pay for the best forecasts.”
