Fox personalities criticized Democratic efforts to implement stricter rules for the Department of Homeland Security after federal immigration agents killed two Minnesotans, saying the seemingly temporary shutdown Democrats have triggered will inhibit disaster relief. But they're glossing over the real threat to disaster aid, which is the “$17 billion bottleneck” Secretary Kristi Noem has caused at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The Associated Press reported that disaster management experts and former FEMA officials said that the agency has enough funding — $7 billion to $8 billion — to support current relief efforts even in the event of a government shutdown.

While Fox personalities are expressing concern about the fate of FEMA, they’re glossing over the real issues impeding federal disaster response, including staff and program cuts along with Noem’s requirement that any expenses over $100,000 be personally approved by her office. 

The network’s approach is part of an ongoing trend since Trump took office — a particularly cynical one given how critical the network has been of disaster response under Democratic leadership.

• Over a chyron about the “DC standoff over DHS funding,” Fox Business’ Cheryl Casone said, “You've also got FEMA funding. So that complicates, in particular when you have a massive snowstorm that the northeast is trying to dig out of.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, 1/27/26]
• Fox News host Brian Kilmeade: “So they are talking about to deprive ICE of money, they're not going to fund the DHS, which means no FEMA, which means a government shutdown. … By the way, a snowstorm, not a good time to stop emergency funding for DHS.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 1/27/26]
• Fox News host Harris Faulkner in a segment about the looming shutdown: “Maybe they don't actually live here, those Democrat leaders. Because if you were here the last few days, you’re going to need some FEMA money. Like what are they even thinking right now?” [Fox News, Faulkner Focus, 1/27/26]
• Fox Business’ Larry Kudlow: “There's already been money, plenty of money, I think some $75 billion has been appropriated to DHS for immigration purposes. … They’re not taking money away from the immigration side. They’re taking money away from FEMA in the middle of all of these national snowstorms and power outages. That's just the stupidest damn thing I ever heard.” [Fox Business, Kudlow, 1/27/26]
• Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) asked Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo, “Why would you defund FEMA in the middle of an event that has wreaked havoc on 200 million Americans?” Blackburn said: “I’ve heard from people as early as 4:30 this morning again who are being told it is going to be two weeks until power is restored. And that is all in the Nashville area. And these — why would you defund FEMA in the middle of an event that has wreaked havoc and 200 million Americans have been affected by this?” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, 1/29/26]
• Fox News anchor Shannon Bream on Outnumbered: “If you delay this bill, this DHS bill, you’re talking about FEMA, you’re talking about TSA, you’re talking about all of these things in the middle of possibly another winter storm hitting the East Coast.” Bream added, “It's a really big calculation Democrats have to make about what they are going to do. They are not going to stop ICE.” [Fox News, Outnumbered, 1/29/26]
• Fox Business’ Elizabeth MacDonald: “There’s another deadly winter storm hitting the East Coast. We need FEMA. FEMA is going to get hit in the shutdown. They’re going to furlough 4,000, 5,000 people.” MacDonald added, “Seventy-three people died in the last winter storm, hundreds of thousands without power still.” In fact, FEMA employees do not get furloughed in the event of a government shutdown. [Fox Business, The Evening Edit, 1/29/26; Reuters, 10/7/25]
• Fox contributor Lisa Boothe on The Big Weekend Show: “What Democrats would effectively be doing is putting FEMA in a dangerous position at a time, by the way, when we just had these big ice and snow storms and lives were literally at risk. That's what they would be putting in harm's way, the American people.” [Fox News, The Big Weekend Show, 1/31/26]

• According to the New York Times, as of January 2026, Kristi Noem’s requirement for her office to personally review and approve all FEMA expenditures exceeding $100,000 has created a $17 billion bottleneck. This includes millions in delayed aid to one Iowa town where “huge floods damaged or destroyed 500 homes” in June 2024. [The New York Times, 1/27/25]
• This same review process reportedly delayed response to the catastrophic Texas flooding in July. According to The New Republic: “Texas’s request for aerial imagery to help with search and rescue efforts was also ‘delayed as it awaited Noem’s approval for the necessary contract,’ and, at a FEMA-manned disaster call center, ‘callers have faced longer wait times as the agency awaited Noem’s approval for a contract to bring in additional support staff.’” According to The New York Times, “The Federal Emergency Management Agency did not answer nearly two-thirds of calls to its disaster assistance line … because the agency had fired hundreds of contractors at call centers.” [Media Matters, 7/17/26; The New Republic, 7/10/25; The New York Times, 7/11/25]
• In 2025, FEMA cut approximately 20% of its staff, including “some of its most experienced and knowledgeable leaders.” This year the reductions could impact 50% of staff. CNN reported that: “CORE employees make up about 40% of FEMA’s workforce — over 8,000 people — working full-time hours on temporary contracts. Several thousand of these workers will see their contracts end in 2026.” Additional CNN reporting showed that FEMA leaders were told that by the next fiscal year, the goal is to cut staff by over 50%.  [AccuWeather, 4/24/25; CNN, 1/2/26; CNN, 1/5/26]
• Under Noem, the Trump administration has hurt national disaster preparedness by installing inexperienced leaders. FEMA’s initial acting administrator was fired after testifying that the agency shouldn’t be abolished. He was replaced by David Richardson, who had no emergency management experience, according to CNBC. In early June, Reuters reported that Richardson had told staff he didn’t know that the United States had a hurricane season. Staff said they were unsure whether Richardson was joking. Richardson resigned in November. [The New York Times, 6/12/25; CBS News, 6/13/25; Politico, 5/8/25; CNBC, 6/2/25; Politico 11/17/26]
• Program and staff reductions along with public statements from Noem suggesting that FEMA would be eliminated have reportedly left the agency ill-prepared for extreme weather. In May — just weeks before the start of the Atlantic hurricane season and peak extreme weather — CNN obtained an internal memo warning that FEMA was “not ready” for hurricane season. According to the internal assessment, preparations for hurricane season have been “derailed” and issues abounded at the agency, “including a general uncertainty around its mission, lack of coordination with states and other federal agencies, low morale and new red tape that will likely slow responses.” [CNN, 5/15/25]
• Further crippling the agency, the Department of Homeland Security has involuntarily reassigned dozens of FEMA staff to support Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation efforts. A letter to Congress arguing that FEMA’s leadership has hindered its ability to effectively manage emergencies signed by about 180 agency employees “points to the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act, which states that transfers are prohibited ‘except for details or assignments that do not reduce the capability of the Agency to perform its missions.’ The reassignments to help ICE, employees say, do just that.” [The Washington Post, 8/6/25; 8/25/25]
• Rollbacks on flood risk standards and canceled preparedness programs have put communities at greater risk. On his first day in office, Donald Trump revoked federal flood protections which require federally funded infrastructure projects to comply with design requirements that harden them against flood risks. “The goal of the standards were not only to protect human lives and homes, but also to save taxpayer money, preventing a never-ending cycle of destroy-rebuild-repeat,” Truthout reported. In April, Trump canceled a FEMA program that allocated billions of dollars in disaster preparedness grants to “help local, state and tribal governments protect residents from future disasters such as floods, wildfires, tornadoes and hurricanes,” NPR explained. Even some Republicans like Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) have asked Trump to reconsider the cuts because, as Cassidy said, the program providing the grants “protects families and saves taxpayer dollars in the long-run. That’s efficient in my book.” [Truthout, 7/12/25; NPR, 5/1/25; Cassidy.Senate.gov, 4/10/25]