Statewide Iowa – Governor Kim Reynolds says if President Trump shuts down FEMA — the Federal Emergency Management Agency — the State of Iowa will be able to significantly streamline the process of getting federal disaster aid to Iowans.
Reynolds says it was a struggle to help Iowans whose homes were damaged in last year’s tornadoes and flooding get approval from a FEMA approved inspector that repairs met code requirements and the homeowners could move back in.
Reynolds says there’s too much bureaucracy involved in getting federal aid distributed to disaster victims who qualify for it.
Reynolds says it’s ridiculous to force disaster victims to fill out multiple rounds of paperwork to see if they qualify for assistance from FEMA, the USDA, the Small Business Administration or any other federal agency.
President Trump posted a statement on social media about FEMA, calling the agency slow and totally ineffective and called for FEMA to be terminated. Trump says individual states should handle storms as they come. Governor Reynolds says while Trump is talking about shutting down FEMA, she expects state officials would be in charge of distributing federal assistance to people who live in regions designated as presidential disaster areas.
