Questions for Cameron Hamilton, Trump’s Nominee for FEMA Administrator
June 15, 2026
This Wednesday, the Senate will consider President Trump’s nomination for Cameron Hamilton to serve as the next Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), an agency critical for federal disaster preparedness and response. If confirmed to this role, it will actually be the second time since January 2025 that Hamilton would lead FEMA. Hamilton, a former Navy SEAL who has not previously served as a state or local emergency manager, was Trump’s first pick to lead FEMA in January 2025 as Acting Administrator. After less than five months in the role, he was fired by Trump that May after testifying to Congress that he believed that FEMA should not be dismantled, contradicting proposals made at the time by Trump and former Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem.
In spite of contradicting the Administration’s proposal to eliminate FEMA, Hamilton has historically argued that FEMA is inefficient and outdated. His proposed solutions in an April 2025 memo to the Office of Management and Budget would only exacerbate these problems. He proposed that the administration should: 1) increase the public assistance declaration threshold, making it more difficult for communities to qualify for federal aid following a disaster, 2) continue to withhold post-disaster hazard mitigation funding from communities in need, 3) limit the federal government’s contributions to local recovery efforts, and 4) deny federal disaster declarations for major snowstorms that can benefit from the mobilization of federal resources to repair damage and clear large amounts of snow.
We agree that FEMA needs reform. The Appalachian Flood Resilience Coalition was created following multiple floods across the region to lift up our regional perspectives in the national conversation about how to improve FEMA. FEMA’s execution of service delivery and the adequacy of services provided to disaster victims have been critiqued during many disasters, including following Hurricane Helene in 2024. However, simply cutting federal aid and making it harder to access what aid is left will not improve the agency’s efficiency. It will only hurt people who have suffered from disasters and make local recovery even more difficult for rural communities. That’s why we are eager for the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee to seek clarity about what Hamilton would do as FEMA Administrator and understand whether he truly wants to reform the agency or cut its capacity. When Hamilton comes before the committee this week, we urge Senators to pose the following questions:
Do you support raising the per capita indicator threshold for determining disaster assistance?
Context: Increasing this threshold will disproportionately impact rural communities, such as those throughout Appalachia. Already this indicator is biased against rural, low population density areas as it requires a large total damage amount relative to a small population. Highly populated areas can hit the threshold much faster because property and people are more concentrated. For example, two Virginia counties, Buchanan and Tazewell, were impacted by flooding in July 2022. The preliminary damage assessment found that the severe storm destroyed 37 homes and significantly damaged 54 other properties in Buchanan County alone. Yet the PCI was not high enough to justify a presidentially-declared disaster.
What do you foresee as FEMA’s role in supporting the build-up of state, local and Tribal government capacity to respond to and recover from disasters? Do you believe that state, local and Tribal governments are currently prepared to immediately fill the gap left by a reduced FEMA?
Context: The FEMA Review Council’s final report makes several proposals that would reduce federal contributions to the recovery process and push more costs onto cash-strapped state, local and Tribal governments. More disaster preparedness and recovery resources and capacity is needed at all levels of government. But cutting off one resource stream does not automatically create another one. State, local and Tribal governments need an established timeline and federal support to build up their capacity over time to assume additional disaster management responsibilities.
What changes would you make to improve local governments’ ability to access FEMA Public Assistance?
Context: Hamilton has previously referenced the need to improve FEMA’s ability to deliver its services. In the House’s bill to reform FEMA, the FEMA Act of 2025, they propose that Public Assistance should be delivered as grants for individual projects rather than through arduous reimbursement processes. Does Hamilton agree with this model or the parametric model proposed in the FEMA Review Council’s final report?
How would you improve households’ experience in applying for and receiving FEMA Individual Assistance following a disaster?
Context: The FEMA Act of 2025 proposes the creation of a universal disaster aid application and improved transparency of agency decisions regarding the level of assistance to be provided to a household. Other legislative efforts, like the standalone Disaster Assistance Simplification Act, have also attempted to create a single application portal for individual assistance.
How will you ensure FEMA has the staff it needs to quickly and effectively deliver on its mission?
Context: Individuals and local leaders who have experienced disasters have often reported on the need for improved access to FEMA staff, referencing difficulty maintaining effective points of contact and challenges with staff turnover. In conversation with the Appalachian Flood Resilience Coalition, one local official in Eastern Kentucky worked with more than five separate FEMA representatives in the same role after a recent flood. The local official had to provide the same information to each of these staffers when they entered their role, slowing the critical recovery process. Another local official in Kentucky reported that they would get different answers to the same question when posed to different FEMA representatives. Local government staff involved in the recovery process from Hurricane Helene also reported frustration that the FEMA Public Assistance Program Delivery Manager was their primary point of contact but that position did not seem to have any decision-making power at FEMA. This restriction slowed funding disbursements. Additionally, the Government Accountability Office found that FEMA has historically failed to meet staffing targets in its Public Assistance, Hazard Mitigation, and Logistics program areas. Insufficient staffing results in the very delays that routinely raise concerns in FEMA’s effectiveness.
What role should FEMA play in supporting state, local and Tribal governments’ ability to invest in resilience?
Context: We are in a moment where it is critical that states and local governments invest in mitigation and resilience in order to reduce the amount of harm and spending that follows disasters. However, rather than supporting these investments, the Trump Administration has taken several actions to reduce access to federal mitigation funding, including by temporarily terminating the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant program and reducing and slowing approvals for the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP).
How will you increase uptake of flood insurance and ensure low-income households are able to afford and maintain their policies?
Context: Affordability and risk knowledge are two major barriers to Appalachian households' ability to maintain flood insurance. Only 5% of homes damaged after July 2022 flooding in Eastern Kentucky had flood insurance. Similarly, barely 1% of households in Buncombe County, North Carolina — which had the highest damage estimates from Hurricane Helene — had federal flood insurance coverage in September 2024.
