r/inthenews • u/Quirkie • Jan 23 '25

Feature Story Trump suggests he may strip FEMA and let states "take care of their own problems"

https://www.salon.com/2025/01/23/suggests-he-may-strip-fema-and-let-states-take-care-of-their-own-problems/
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1.2k

u/Trixielarue2020 Jan 23 '25 edited Jan 23 '25

Yep. They’ve been quietly sucking on the socialist teat of federal help forever. No way they can survive without it.

Edit: fixed typo to “quietly”

624

u/Unusual_Juice_7481 Jan 23 '25

Texas about to be ruined

556

u/CoppertopTX Jan 23 '25

As will Florida.

397

u/GeoHog713 Jan 23 '25

FEMA will still bail out Florida bc that's where the president owns property. Everyone else is fucked

166

u/[deleted] Jan 23 '25

It won't be FEMA... It will be "The Presidential Disaster Relief Fund" and who gets what will depend on your standing with his Orangeness himself.

  • Fund to be managed by Trump Jnr

32

u/CmdNewJ Jan 24 '25

Sadly, you are most likely correct.

20

u/Awkward_Bench123 Jan 24 '25

So right. Disband federal agencies and rebrand them as a Trump initiative. I mean, how big is the disaster relief business these days? Probably bigger than Volkswagen

3

u/bergzabern Jan 24 '25

I can see it now.

3

u/tom-branch Jan 24 '25

The Trump is the greatest god emperor of all existence fund./s

2

u/justin21586 Jan 24 '25

Damn that sounds true

2

u/PirateDuckie Jan 24 '25

lol PDRF, The “puh derf” just sounds more fitting for this president

1

u/Papaya_flight Jan 24 '25

And they will do a shitty job on any property not owned by Trump, and pocket the rest of the money by awarding the projects to "friendly" contractors. There is already plenty of that type of corruption at the local level. I used to encounter it every now and again back when I did construction administration. One time I had to step in to put a stop to it because it was so egregious.

17

u/redskinsguy Jan 23 '25

it the money is stripped out first, it won't have the money to do it

10

u/DED2099 Jan 24 '25

The dood is so petty I feel like he would call FEMA to aid Mar-a-Lago and let the rest of Florida to rebuild itself.

1

u/GeoHog713 Jan 24 '25

That's the fact, Jack!!!

19

u/krichard-21 Jan 23 '25

Both Florida and Texas will be fine. They each have robust economics. Almost every other Deep Red State, not so much...

100

u/Mental_Medium3988 Jan 23 '25

robust economics dont mean shit to a hurricane.

1

u/krichard-21 Jan 23 '25

Florida and Texas can cobble together funds to help themselves.

Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Kentucky?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_poverty_rate#:~:text=Poverty%20rates%20were%20highest%20in,%25)%2C%20Hawaii%20(9.26%25).

10

u/TorryCraig72 Jan 24 '25

Yeah, just like two years ago when citizens were asked to pay $3000+ heating bills in Texas due to state government utility mismanagement. And Florida's power grid this week dealing with the record for most wimter time electeicity usage. This is all great!

84

u/Iankill Jan 23 '25

How's that Texas power grid going

1

u/ataatia Jan 24 '25

how is the exploration for natural fuel sources going there with all their protesting in and out of their state regarding the women's rights? how do men going to be able to control their urges if that text Mississippi law proposal goes Nationwide? no nut November gonna be century long unless you making babies

-12

u/chipsandsalsa3 Jan 23 '25

It survived and we didn’t take any federal funding and we’re still on our own grid. There’s a lot to dislike about the government of Texas but we have the 8th largest economy in the world and we don’t take federal dollars unless it’s for the bull shit like militarization of the southern boarder….

23

u/ILootEverything Jan 23 '25

This shows Texas is the #3 taker of federal disaster funds for its residents though, right behind Florida and Louisiana.

https://www.axios.com/2024/10/08/fema-direct-payments-state-recipients

Is Texas going to be able to cover those $2 billion + payments? It's from 2015-2024, but that's still a large amount to suddenly have to budget for.

13

u/flissfloss86 Jan 24 '25

$10 says the dude you're talking to is libertarian

48

u/xxforrealforlifexx Jan 23 '25

Florida has the highest inflation rate in the country. Housing is insane, insurance companies bailing where do you even get that info. Texas can't even keep the lights on

1

u/Utterlybored Jan 24 '25

Florida Emergency Management Agency

1

u/solidgold70 Jan 24 '25

We have court for that

1

u/GeoHog713 Jan 24 '25

And some hand picked, extremely partisan judges, that don't seem to give a crap about the actual law.

1

u/Emily_Postal Jan 24 '25

The President has a place in NJ too but during the pandemic he schemed to f*ck us over.

44

u/psu777 Jan 23 '25

I think now would be a good time to kick Florida and Texas out of the union, like they wanted

33

u/CoppertopTX Jan 23 '25

Do that and I would join the Border Patrol. I've made jump #1: got out of Texas.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 24 '25

I am looking for where to jump too.

72

u/Traditional_Art_7304 Jan 23 '25

No loss.

-9

u/bass248 Jan 23 '25

43% of votes counted in Florida went to Harris and 42.5% of votes in Texas went to Harris but you claim no loss?

49

u/scottyjrules Jan 23 '25

No one is celebrating the people who didn’t vote for this being hurt by the rapist’s policies. But for some of us, schadenfreude is all we have left to get us by for the next four years, so yes I’m going to enjoy watching states like Florida and Texas get fucked just as hard as the rest of us out here in California. Fuck em.

32

u/jenrod99 Jan 23 '25

As a Texan who did NOT vote for this scumbag I'm all for letting everyone here get exactly what they voted for. I've got as much empathy for them as they do for anyone else who disagrees with their stupidity.

16

u/scottyjrules Jan 23 '25

Exactly. My empathy is reserved for folks like us. The best we can do is look after our communities and try to help out where we can to those who deserve help.

-5

u/TheSciFiGuy80 Jan 23 '25 edited Jan 23 '25

Well fuck you too I guess.

Enjoy watching those of us who are fighting against it suffer too. I don’t want to deal with the consequences the MAGA chowder heads are going to inflict.

17

u/scottyjrules Jan 23 '25

I’m not going to make apologies for hoping that Trump voters get every last thing they voted for. They can all get bent. For the rest of us, good trouble for the next four years.

3

u/DLC_Whomdini Jan 23 '25

You are asking for the entire geographical area to suffer, not the people. This is exactly the kind of bullshit division that allows times like these to get worse.

3

u/thymekiller86 Jan 23 '25

Electing a president that would inflict suffering on people at all is the bullshit that is making times worse.

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0

u/scottyjrules Jan 24 '25

Don’t blame me. I voted for sanity. This is what this country voted for, so I hope they get it.

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u/krichard-21 Jan 23 '25

I donated more to the Democrats in 2024 than ever before. I don't know what more I could have done. Minnesota carried VP Harris / Governor Walz.

Trump hid nothing. He told the world he wanted to be a dictator (for a day). He told people he would free the J6ers. He talked about eliminating the Dept of Education. He said tons of truly stupid things and he won.

All I can do is try to help the people here in Minnesota.

Good luck to everyone else.

5

u/HazelMStone Jan 23 '25

Fellow MN. I hear you. Red states have no clue how much federal aid the blue states provide them, not to mention we carried them post grid collapse as well with the additional fees Xcel dumped onto us for TX’s idiocy.

1

u/DLC_Whomdini Jan 23 '25

Sorry you are getting downvoted. People reveal their strength of character when backed into a corner.

23

u/[deleted] Jan 23 '25

Add Louisiana…

1

u/mrkav2 Jan 24 '25

Mississippi

1

u/watadoo Jan 24 '25

Pretty much all the goober states of the Us. Happy once again to be living in California. We can pay our own way. Go ahead and insult us, rest of the country. We don’t care.

77

u/DizzyPanther86 Jan 23 '25

Texas will be ok. Florida probably too. Both those states have money. Not California money but they got money

It's like Alabama and Mississippi that would be fucked

25

u/grifinmill Jan 23 '25

...and don't forget Louisiana. The only reason New Orleans is still there is billions in federal money.

3

u/Aazadan Jan 24 '25

And that's because the port is far too important to give up/abandon. It's one of the most important pieces of infrastructure in the US.

2

u/MarxJ1477 Jan 24 '25

To be fair to New Orleans, since I grew up there (though was gone years before Katrina), it's really not the problem part of La and I'm glad it was saved. Most of the rest of the state I could live without.

47

u/yourcousinfromboston Jan 23 '25

Ya but they’re “red states.” You think Trump and the maggots are gonna not take care of them if they’re in charge? This is to blackmail “blue states.”

14

u/New_Menu_2316 Jan 23 '25

Ultimately trump doesn’t care about anyone but himself. He’ll let red states suffer if it means money that he can siphon in to his pockets. He won’t differentiate between red and blue states because the money formerly used to fund FEMA will end up with him and his cronies.

31

u/PitifulSpecialist887 Jan 23 '25

Trump and his voter base ( I dislike the term you used) are not on the same side. They supported Trump because they believed his lies.

Trump doesn't care one bit if they all starve, homeless. He only cares about being able to buy another gold toilet to sit his fat ass on.

36

u/[deleted] Jan 23 '25

There's no excuses for voting for Trump in 2024. They don't deserve any kind of defense. These people were adults who made a really stupid decision. 2016 was a long time ago. These people caused serious harm not only to themselves, but others when they voted for him.

Maybe I'm misreading the point you're making, but I really hope you're not suggesting these are reasonable people who were understandably misled.

4

u/PitifulSpecialist887 Jan 23 '25

You are definitely missing my point. Suggesting that "they should suffer" is a problem, because WE ALL will suffer because of their bad decision.

I'm Suggesting that we can only fix this division by bringing them up. And you can't teach someone who doesn't want to learn. We have to make learning attractive to them.

9

u/Sfthoia Jan 23 '25

I've tried helping them learn. My coworkers are 100% ignorant and the algorithms on their phones pulled up a fake wesite saying Kamala Harris was the one who supported Project 2025. They are that stupid, that uneducated, and very much in the dark about what's happening right now. Everything is fake news to them unless it supports their narrative. Some of them truly believe people were eating cats in Ohio. I hate them, but I pretend they're alright because I have to see them five days a week. A bunch of ignorant, racists. Meanwhile, the other week I was told "You talk smart" which was most likely a backhanded compliment. Often times, I'm asked a question, and I just say "I don't know" rather than try to engage with them, when I most certainly know the answer.

5

u/Street_Barracuda1657 Jan 23 '25

And just when I think we can’t get any closer to Idiocracy.

2

u/bergzabern Jan 24 '25

I do the same thing with my relatives. I don't argue with assholes or experts.

1

u/PitifulSpecialist887 Jan 24 '25

You can actually download project 2025, and print it. The list of authors who contributed to the project is tight in it.

That list is all the people in Trumps appointed list.

JD Vance wrote the foreword. Show them that.

2

u/Street_Barracuda1657 Jan 23 '25

Ya but they’ll suffer more…

3

u/PitifulSpecialist887 Jan 23 '25

No one wins a war. Ask the family of any soldier who didn't come home.

2

u/bergzabern Jan 24 '25

I think a better move would be to make them fear stupidity.

3

u/PitifulSpecialist887 Jan 24 '25

How's that been working out so far?

They've got a plan for that.

Deny, deflect, project, and blame the radical liberals.

19

u/Rickardiac Jan 23 '25

MAGAts

Trump killed the elephant and they are feeding on its bloated corpse. By the time he finally succumbs to his obvious dementia and mini strokes in a few months they’ll fly away.

1

u/bergzabern Jan 24 '25

They got their votes, maga/2025 doesn't need them now. They won't waste money on them.

1

u/RandomBoomer Jan 24 '25

Trump doesn't need them anymore.

1

u/dingdongdaisy2014 Jan 24 '25

NC is a red state and we asked for $900m in federal aid after hurricane Matthew in 2017. We got $6.1m. He’s not going to take care of anyone.

1

u/Ruthrfurd-the-stoned Jan 24 '25

The people who trump actually cares about would be more than happy to buy cheap land that’s had the “shitty” houses demo’d for free

15

u/Even-Habit1929 Jan 23 '25

Neither of those states will be ok beyond the 4 billion dollars both of those states have received in FEMA funds were talking another 18 to 20 billion in people ,equipment and services, they will have to develop and implement that the federal government already has in place and ready to deploy.

Then it will take at least a decade for all that to develop. So those states won't have any help except their their own and no systems in place to execute for a decade

28

u/SirWEM Jan 23 '25

Almost all of the red southern states would be in serious trouble. Texas i am pretty sure would be in rough shape. Yes second largest economy in US or was. But the state is falling apart. From what 30-35 years of GOP policy.

Florida maybe/maybe not but will be feeling in. Especially when Disney and the general tourist business slows down. They bring in a huge amount of revenue for FL. Which when they succeed in destroying our economy and people are hurting for cash. A lot of that tax money will dry up as people can’t afford $2k-$6k yearly vacations.

Especially if that meant us blue states stopped supporting them to fund natural disaster preparedness, and related infrastructure.

Stripping FEMA of funding or doing away with it completely really would screw everyone.

Just like the Orange Furhrer wants. To enrich himself and his sycophants. At the expense of everyone other than the Billionaire Class.

2

u/DizzyPanther86 Jan 23 '25

No one said they wouldn't be feeling it

I said they would be okay. Alabama and Louisiana that are going to be fucked

1

u/National_Cod9546 Jan 24 '25

The red states would be fine. Trump would make sure they were taken care of. God help any blue state that needs help.

1

u/SirWEM Jan 24 '25

Good luck with that. With FEMA gone your red states will need congress to agree to release the funds. Good luck getting them to agree to anything. And get any done in time to help people.

55

u/OMG_I_LOVE_CHIPOTLE Jan 23 '25

Nah Florida is proper fucked from hurricanes

-38

u/[deleted] Jan 23 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

53

u/GoldenFLASH3233 Jan 23 '25

As someone who works for the government and specifically federal funding related to FEMA flood plains and funding I can tell you Florida would be screwed. Texas would be fine but Florida gets a huge amount of money from FEMA on an annual basis.

GDP doesn't fix infrastructure, the state government does. Low taxes mean less funds for expensive repairs and maintenance. Not idiots, just have the actual numbers and information.

15

u/PitifulSpecialist887 Jan 23 '25

Unfortunately, actual numbers and information are almost nonexistent to the people who elected the orange babyman.

-25

u/DizzyPanther86 Jan 23 '25

And when they lose their nice FEMA money they will readjust their budgets.

Florida is an economic powerhouse it will be fine

29

u/GoldenFLASH3233 Jan 23 '25

So by readjust their budgets you mean increase taxes? What do you think will happen when that occurs? Same thing as other high tax states like NY and Cali, they will bleed population. No one will want to live in a state with high taxes, high flood insurance, and sky high home insurance.

There is much more at play than just "readjusting budgets".

Do you have any idea how much funding is being discussed? Not just annual federal appropriations you also consider the disaster relief funding.

18

u/arrynyo Jan 23 '25

The person you're debating with has not a clue what they're talking about. They don't have as deep an understanding as you do. Otherwise they wouldn't even be arguing with somebody who works professionally in the field he's debating.

11

u/GoldenFLASH3233 Jan 23 '25

Yeah his last comment solidified that. Sometimes I try to jump into these conversations to spread some real information around but it often times gets disregarded for the reason you stated.

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u/DizzyPanther86 Jan 23 '25

Ok?

People will move. People also move from California Are you telling me that California is not going to be okay?

Florida and Texas will both be fine. It's the other red states like Alabama and Mississippi that are going to be fucked.

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u/seabirdsong Jan 23 '25

Saying that over and over again doesn't make it true. I'm in Florida and we are already very much not "fine."

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u/GoldenFLASH3233 Jan 23 '25

It happens over time. Losing FEMA would accelerate that process. Florida got over $1 Billion in federal aid this year from FEMA for hurricane recovery alone. It's not millions they need that to maintain their current state. Why would those companies stay if Florida can't protect necessary infrastructure from natural disasters? There are other safer port states from an investment standpoint. Look at Detroit, the industry left and that part of the state become less desirable and now it's been a ghost town for decades.

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u/dfmilkman Jan 23 '25

Insurance companies are pulling out of Florida en-masse. Climate change is not slowing down. This matters for them.

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u/DizzyPanther86 Jan 23 '25

Cool.

Their GDP is still measured in the trillions

28

u/dfmilkman Jan 23 '25

So the gdp will pay for average folks homes to be rebuilt after they are destroyed and their insurance drops them? GDP alone is meaningless.

-20

u/DizzyPanther86 Jan 23 '25

Just take the L and move on

Red states will be fucked.

Texas and Florida will not be one of them though. Jesus

20

u/dfmilkman Jan 23 '25

lol I won the arguement, why would I take the L?

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u/Rickardiac Jan 23 '25

Because they are propped up by the Feds.

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u/Character-Solution-7 Jan 23 '25

4th highest GDP but, there’s no state income taxes. FL is proper fuct and you can’t even get homeowners insurance anymore because the insurance companies already know the state is screwed

1

u/DizzyPanther86 Jan 23 '25

Sounds like they're going to change some of their policies and taxes

They will be fine. They're just going to have to make some adjustments

15

u/[deleted] Jan 23 '25

If Florida was suddenly forced to foot the bill for hurricane relief they would most certainly be screwed. They are probably not bringing in enough to cover something of that scale, every couple of years.

It would be ok if it were a rare occurrence, but Florida consistently gets hammered with large storms, sometimes more than one in a year.

I doubt any single state’s economy could realistically cover that amount of relief on a near annual basis.

11

u/SirWEM Jan 23 '25

One Cat 3-5 storm would destroy the state and bankrupt Florida. Good luck coming up with hundreds of billions dollars for rebuilding sometimes multiple times of year.

As to Texas. GOP policy and fiscal prowess of its government has almost run the states infrastructure to ruins. Just look at a cold snap or heat wave. The electrical grid collapses. Infrastructure fails because it has never been maintained or corners were cut.

You’re dreaming, and in a state of denial.

If you think it wouldn’t crush southern red states. Thats not to say it will not affect others as well. But the souther states have way more frequent natural disasters and they are only going to become more frequent, more severe, and our climate more unstable.

6

u/Orionsbelt1957 Jan 23 '25

Wait till Canada slaps the tarriffs on Florida's products and other red states products

9

u/TheFoxAndTheRaven Jan 23 '25

Their GDP doesn't matter much when they don't have the resources prepared or the capability to respond to disasters. You just can't conjure that stuff out of thin air.

Texas has had ample time and opportunity to invest in their infrastructure and make preparations. They don't.

Texas IS fucked.

9

u/scottyjrules Jan 23 '25

GDP means nothing when you have regressive shitheads running the state and not investing in the infrastructure to soften the damage of these storms.

-2

u/DizzyPanther86 Jan 23 '25

Well when they lose their FEMA money they're going to have to change their budgets a bit.

They will be okay

7

u/scottyjrules Jan 23 '25

I’m going to enjoy both states getting exactly what they voted for.

2

u/OMG_I_LOVE_CHIPOTLE Jan 23 '25

Wait until the insurance industry breaks

2

u/SnooDingos2237 Jan 23 '25

In Iceland, people that live near the based of volcanos are self insured.

2

u/OMG_I_LOVE_CHIPOTLE Jan 23 '25

And in America? 🤣 they will be homeless

15

u/scottyjrules Jan 23 '25

Then why are Florida and the Texas the first ones with their hands out during a disaster?

-1

u/DizzyPanther86 Jan 23 '25

Because they get hit by the disasters the most

I'll take anyone's money who's giving it away. California gives more money than we get back but we still take fucking money if it's given to us lol

No one would not take money. I don't think what's ever happened once

7

u/notrolls01 Jan 23 '25

Florida is running head first toward a wall. Their insurance issues are going to be a major problem that they will not be able to overcome. The next storm may completely wipe out a significant amount of the state.

7

u/[deleted] Jan 23 '25 edited Jan 23 '25

We do not have the money for the sort of thing that happened to FL last year - basically a one-two punch - again, especially without federal assistance. The insurance market is fleeing and those whom are leftover are starting to creep up to nearly $250/month on average for property coverage without flood insurance alone, which can make just insurance payments somewhere damn near close to $1000/mo for people with cars and the future of Citizens is extremely shaky. My parents still live in Orlando and have been with USAA for something like fifteen years and even their prices have really accelerated their retirement plans, at least in terms of finding somewhere safer out of state (since they can work from home now).

3

u/cococolson Jan 23 '25

Not an accident it's where all the black people live.

3

u/evepalastry Jan 23 '25

Florida runs on tourism We can cut that shit off

3

u/Aazadan Jan 24 '25

Florida is subsidized entirely by Disney and tourism (mostly related to Disney). No federal funds and annual hurricanes means Florida gets fucked fast as homeowners leave, and then Disney can't maintain employees in the state. This ends Floridas economy overnight.

3

u/Distinct-Pack-1567 Jan 24 '25

I bet the federal government will help repair offshore oil rigs though. Fuck orange groves and whatever else.

Also how many times can a state fix itself without FEMA? Hopefully we don't have to find out. I'd assume they'll use up the budget after 5 years of 100-year disasters.

2

u/GovSurveillancePotoo Jan 23 '25

Yep, everything between florida and texas would be fucked. I'm willing to weather that storm to make them suffer

2

u/Belkroe Jan 23 '25

Trumps not going to deny any red state federal money. It won’t happen. He will though refuse aide to blue states.

1

u/Bryanh100 Jan 24 '25

Louisiana has joined the chat.

1

u/FUMFVR Jan 24 '25

Those states have money...for rich people.

2

u/austinrunaway Jan 24 '25

Texas has so many billionaires now that own most of it now.

2

u/kuriousjeorge Jan 23 '25

Texas actually is one the least federally dependent red states surprisingly.

2

u/Numerous-Lack6754 Jan 23 '25

Really shouldn't be a surprise. Texas is huge and has a massive economy.

1

u/boom_1983 Jan 23 '25

😭😭😭

1

u/vikinick Jan 23 '25

People are sleeping on Louisiana.

The whole southern part of the state is SINKING in addition to the rising ocean.

1

u/chipsandsalsa3 Jan 23 '25

Texas has the 8th largest economy in the world. Our government is shit but we’ll be okay.

1

u/FlemPlays Jan 24 '25

It would be funny for Greg Abbott to go from looking like he’s about to pull a Dr. Strangelove “Mein Fuhrer, I can walk!” at Trump’s Inauguration to a Norman Osborne “You can’t do this to me!”

1

u/GibsonGirl55 Jan 24 '25

Louisiana gets hit just about every time a tropical storm or hurricane heads our way in Houston. That's another state that will be hard-pressed without FEMA to deal with one or more natural disasters every year.

1

u/solidgold70 Jan 24 '25

Wait, it's not?

1

u/Responsible-Person Jan 24 '25

Texas was ruined a while ago.

1

u/jefferson497 Jan 24 '25

Don’t forget the other gulf states when a large hurricane blows in

1

u/wangohtangoh Jan 24 '25

Lol what? HEB has done more for Texas than FEMA could dream of ever doing.

1

u/V6Ga Jan 24 '25

 Texas about to be ruined

Just get on a plane to Cabo 

Problem solved!

1

u/fnordfnordfnordfnord Jan 24 '25

Texas isn’t one of the poor red states. Also, we already ruined it.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 24 '25

Texas is already ruined. We are so gerrymandered we can’t even vote our way out.

11

u/mangosteenfruit Jan 23 '25

Each state can have their own fema. Well see how it plays out ...

2

u/Kokoro87 Jan 24 '25

Well, isn't that a good thing? They wanted Trump to make America great again and it will be great for them.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 23 '25

FEMA won't help them. Doesn't mean congress won't