On May 8, 2026, the Washington Post reported, in an analysis of public data through May 4, that FEMA dramatically slowed its distribution of hazard-mitigation grants in the summer of 2025. Nationwide, the agency went from awarding roughly $91 million per month between February and June 2025 to about $3 million per month for the rest of the year. After facing legal scrutiny for holding up disaster-related funds, FEMA released $760 million in March 2026 alone, of $1.1 billion so far this year. About 1,000 grants have been held up in Trump's second term, according to internal records obtained by the Post.
The money that has flowed since has been uneven. Two Democratic-led states facing heightened wildfire risk received scarcely any of it: California has received only $830,000 from the program since July 2025, and Colorado has received nothing, according to the Post's analysis. During the same period FEMA sent $239 million in hazard-mitigation funding to Florida, $131 million to Texas and $117 million to Louisiana. California's Office of Emergency Services says the state is waiting on $1.68 billion.
A policy instituted by former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, requiring her approval for any grant of $100,000 or more, created a significant backlog, the Post reported. Debbra Goh, a research assistant at the Carnegie Endowment who has studied the grant data, told the Post, “There's a pattern — a state like Colorado is repeatedly being denied FEMA aid and others like California are waiting on FEMA money that's already been approved.” California Governor Gavin Newsom said in April that “permanent work cannot move at full speed without the promised federal reimbursement.”
The administration denies any political motive. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said, “There is no politicization to the president's decisions on disaster relief.” FEMA said the 76-day lapse in its appropriations “significantly impacted FEMA's capacity to review and process grant applications across the country,” and that it is working to clear the backlog for all pending projects, including those in California and Colorado. The Post notes that the delays predate that shutdown, which began in mid-February 2026. It also reported a June 2025 email in which Josh Gruenbaum, then commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service, told DHS and DOGE officials, “There is a Gov wide CA grant termination effort on monday.”
FEMA's Hazard Mitigation Grant Program pays for projects meant to minimize future losses after a presidential disaster declaration, such as floodwalls, elevated buildings and fire-resistant homes. Goh: “Hazard-mitigation funding is designed to help communities prepare for the next disaster. Without it, communities are rebuilding into the same risk.” In June, nearly two dozen Democratic members of California's congressional delegation, joined by three Colorado Democrats, wrote to FEMA asking why the money was being withheld.
Correction (October 2, 2026): This entry said FEMA cut hazard-mitigation awards to Democratic-led states from $91 million to $3 million a month. The Washington Post analysis shows that drop was nationwide; the partisan disparity is a separate finding about which states received the money released since, and the entry now says so. It also omitted the White House denial and FEMA's explanation, which are now included. Unsourced claims that cutting the program does not save money and that Republican-led states do not bear the risk, and a paragraph linking the story to unrelated actions (Medicaid suspensions, the ICE ombudsman closure, State Department layoffs, an FBI raid, a Fulton County subpoena, tariffs), were removed. Debbra Goh's title and the date of Gov. Newsom's quote were corrected.