FEMA Awards Nearly $3.5 Billion to Help States Manage Emergency Preparedness

FEMA is shifting from bloated, DC-centric dead weight to a lean, deployable disaster force that empowers state actors to provide relief for their citizens

WASHINGTON - Today, Secretary Noem announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) returned nearly $3.5 billion of taxpayer dollars back into American communities, empowering state and local leaders to better prepare for emergencies like fires, floods, tornadoes, cyber incidents, and terrorist attacks.

These funds, administered through FEMA's non-disaster grant programs, empower communities to hire and train firefighters and other first responders, plan for potential cyber disruptions, protect their critical infrastructure like ports and transportation systems, enhance the security of churches and other nonprofits, implement public warning systems, protect themselves against terrorist attacks and transnational crime, and much more. When states, counties, and towns across the country increase their resilience to threats, the entire nation becomes stronger and more secure.

"Secretary Noem is empowering state and local leaders over Washington bureaucrats," said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. "The Biden administration used FEMA as its own personal piggy bank to fund far-left radical organizations, house criminal illegal aliens, and support pseudo-science. Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, it is no longer open season the American taxpayer at DHS. The Trump administration is draining the swamp, restoring accountability for FEMA, and putting Americans FIRST in disaster response."

This announcement comes after a critical evaluation of all grant programs and recipients to root out waste, fraud and abuse and deliver accountability for the American taxpayer. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and FEMA worked together to vet grant recipients and ensure that every dollar spent strengthens the nation's resilience.

Unlike the Biden administration, recipients of grants will no longer be permitted to use federal funds to house illegal immigrants at luxury hotels, fund climate change pet projects, or empower radical organizations with unseemly ties that don't serve the interest of the American people.

This month, FEMA awarded the following Preparedness Grants:

• Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program (including AFG, FP&S, SAFER)
• Emergency Management Grant Program
• Intercity Bus Security Grant Program
• Intercity Passenger Rail Program
• Nonprofit Security Grant Program
• Homeland Security Grant Program (including UASI, OPSG, SHSP)
• Port Security Grant Program
• Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant Program
• State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program
• Transit Security Grant Program
• Tribal Homeland Security Grant Program
• Tribal Cybersecurity Grant Program

This month, FEMA also awarded the following additional non-disaster grant programs:

• Community Assistance Program-State Support Services Element
• Detention Support Grant Program
• Emergency Food and Shelter Program
• Homeland Security National Training Program (ASSURE, CTG, NCPC NDPC)
• National Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) Response System
• National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (Individual and Multistate)
• National Dam Safety Program
• Next Generation Warning System
• Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention Grant Program

More information is available on FEMA.gov: https://www.fema.gov/grants.