Politico reports:

President Donald Trump’s suggestions that he might shut down the federal agency charged with responding to disasters are running into trouble with Republican lawmakers.

Deeply red states are experiencing some of the costliest disasters, and lawmakers from those states fear that eliminating Federal Emergency Management Agency would leave them on the hook for increasingly expensive bills. So while they’re open to overhauling FEMA, congressional Republicans said they flatly reject the idea of abolishing the agency.

“FEMA can’t go away,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) told reporters last week. “I think the first job of the federal government is to protect people and property.” [Continue reading…]

The Associated Press reports:

Red states with 42.7% of the population have 56.6% of the number of federally declared disasters and get half the FEMA aid. Blue states with 42.2% of the population and 35.8% of the number of disasters get 47.5% of the FEMA aid.

The disaster-heavy states that former FEMA chief Fugate calls his “frequent fliers” also tend to be more Republican. About two-thirds of the top 15 states in total FEMA funds, FEMA spending per person and number of federally declared disasters are Republican. Those include Florida, Louisiana, Alaska, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Mississippi.

Twelve congressional districts have had at least a dozen federally declared disasters since 2011; three-quarters of them are represented by Republicans. Those are in Kentucky, Louisiana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Texas, Vermont and West Virginia. [Continue reading…]