Opinion: FEMA isn’t the only federal agency under attack

In the wake of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, we saw another, more insidious whirlwind emerging: the spread of viral conspiracy theories about the Federal Emergency Management Agency by political agitators like Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, his running mate JD Vance and X CEO Elon Musk.
The time for appraising FEMA’s relief efforts will come. But the torrent of misinformation and attacks against FEMA has been a slap in the face to first responders like myself.
It’s easy to dismiss Trump’s insinuation about FEMA channeling funds to undocumented immigrants as cheap red meat thrown to a hungrily xenophobic MAGA fan base. Besides the fact that these stories are no more true than claims by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., that someone is “controlling” the weather, there is perhaps a more unsettling fact: U.S. agencies are struggling.
In fact, our federal agencies ‒ once the prize of the modern democratic world ‒ are crumbling after years of neglect by one administration after another. They have been decimated, left wanting for the bold investment needed to do their jobs.
The Department of Homeland Security recently warned about a projected deficit in the Disaster Relief Fund.
And between Helene and Milton, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced that FEMA does not have enough funding to survive the hurricane season, which lasts until Nov. 30.
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FEMA may be the face of disaster relief, but its instability reveals a deeper crisis.
Agencies charged with our safety are collapsing under a massive funding shortfall ‒ billions of dollars that leave the core of American life vulnerable and dangerously unprepared for what’s to come.
Budget cuts have only exacerbated years of pernicious neglect: 
This heinously shortsighted cost cutting extends to front-line workers: Because of the hollowing out of some federal agencies, “most cabinet agencies today have fewer federal employees,” according to the Brennan Center’s analysis of data from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management between September 2010 and December 2022.
Instead of treating cash-strapped agencies as expendable ‒ or worse, as political pawns ‒ we must realize that the surge in natural disasters demands a completely new approach.
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One such method could be drawing inspiration from the Department of Defense. With the Pentagon’s $841 billion budget, it ensures that America is equipped to face national security threats.
As climate disasters grow more frequent and severe, it’s clear that their risks to our safety are just as critical.
This is why America needs a GDP percentage commitment from the federal government for environmental and emergency response agencies: something akin to the 2% of gross domestic product that NATO member countries are required to contribute for their collective defense.
We need to defend disaster relief workers so they can do their jobs. Helene and Milton showed how misinformation is not only hurting the work of first responders but also putting their lives in danger. In North Carolina, an armed man was arrested on public terror charges for threatening FEMA staff. It was so dangerous in some areas, some aid operations had to pause.
But teams have been back at work in states hit by the hurricanes, serving communities trying to recover. On Wednesday, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell visited devastated areas in Augusta, Georgia, where she met with survivors and federal personnel supporting recovery efforts.
“As I talked to the mayor and his team earlier, we are here for the long haul,” Criswell said. “We also have an opportunity to build back stronger and build back more resilient.”
Ultimately, no matter what side of the aisle you find yourself on, I know that Trump’s storm of lies only harms the communities left waiting for assistance.
As Americans struggle to recover from Helene and Milton, it’s time to invest in our nation’s safety and resilience ‒ before we find ourselves in a disaster we can’t recover from.
Nathalie Beasnael, a nurse and trained first responder, is the founder of Health4Peace, which provides essential medical supplies to hospitals in Chad, Ghana, Senegal and South Africa.