Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
It's 3 times harder for blue states to get disaster funding under Trump -- Politico
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/23/trump-denies-disaster-aid-for-democratic-led-states-00831199Thomas Frank
The president has approved just 23 percent of blue state requests for disaster aid, compared to 89 percent for red states.
No surprise with this con-for-a-president.
President Donald Trump has rejected disaster aid for Democratic-run states at the highest rate in the 47-year history of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
He approved just 23 percent of disaster funding requests from states with a Democratic governor and two Democratic senators since returning to office 14 months ago. For states with a Republican governor and two Republican senators, it's the opposite -- Trump has approved 89 percent of their requests.
There has never been such a sharp partisan disparity in the approval of federal disaster funds since FEMA was created in 1979, according to a review of 2,500 natural disaster declarations by POLITICO's E&E News.
The denials have blocked Democratic-led states from getting a total of $250 million in disaster aid that would have been approved by every previous president including Trump in his first term, E&E News found.
Trump rejected most of the requests even after FEMA had documented that the damage met its financial threshold to warrant receiving federal aid.
"Never in my lifetime has a president treated disaster relief as a political cudgel," Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, said after seeing E&E News' analysis. "What President Trump has done to politicize disaster relief and hold up support for Americans who need it -- including my constituents in Washington state -- is frankly unforgivable."
. . .
He approved just 23 percent of disaster funding requests from states with a Democratic governor and two Democratic senators since returning to office 14 months ago. For states with a Republican governor and two Republican senators, it's the opposite -- Trump has approved 89 percent of their requests.
There has never been such a sharp partisan disparity in the approval of federal disaster funds since FEMA was created in 1979, according to a review of 2,500 natural disaster declarations by POLITICO's E&E News.
The denials have blocked Democratic-led states from getting a total of $250 million in disaster aid that would have been approved by every previous president including Trump in his first term, E&E News found.
Trump rejected most of the requests even after FEMA had documented that the damage met its financial threshold to warrant receiving federal aid.
"Never in my lifetime has a president treated disaster relief as a political cudgel," Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, said after seeing E&E News' analysis. "What President Trump has done to politicize disaster relief and hold up support for Americans who need it -- including my constituents in Washington state -- is frankly unforgivable."
. . .
3 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
