3/10/26: The Arizona Republic: Opinion: AZ’s congressional delegation should step up and show support for FEMA
AZ’s congressional delegation should step up and show support for FEMA
Arizona’s congressional representatives have to step up for the state and support FEMA funding. Our lives may depend on it.
The Arizona Republic
10 Mar 2026
Your Turn Ben Smilowitz
Guest columnist
read full op-ed here: https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/2026/03/10/gutting-fema-bad-news-arizonans-opinion/88988813007
Floodwaters ripped through Globe, washing out roads, damaging homes and businesses, and leaving residents unsure how — or when — recovery would come. Ash fell on the North Rim as flames consumed the historic Grand Canyon Lodge. In northern Arizona, flash flooding surged through Havasupai Falls, forcing evacuations.Across Arizona, extreme heat emergencies push first responders, hospitals, and communities to the brink.
No longer isolated incidents, Arizona’s disasters are testing the limits of what cities, counties, and the state can manage on their own: fires that burn hotter and longer, floods without warning, and heat that kills quietly.
After flooding devastated Globe and surrounding communities in late 2025, damage estimates reached roughly $96 million.
Local leaders requested federal disaster assistance — and were told the losses did not meet the help threshold. City officials scrambled. Recovery slowed. The state’s appeal — and Arizona families — are still waiting.
How can AZ’s congressional delegation help?
Arizona’s congressional delegation, including Rep. Eli Crane who represents Globe, have the critical swing votes on whether to degrade FEMA and pour gasoline on frustrations in his disaster-prone district, or strengthen FEMA and expedite help when it’s urgently needed.
There is no plan to replace FEMA, and states simply do not have the same power and capabilities. Weakening the system further through proposed FEMA staffing cuts will not speed responses or improve efficiency. Arizonans know: a quick FEMA response is often the difference between rapid assistance and prolonged hardship.
The idea that federal disaster response is unnecessary ignores the fact that the burden will fall squarely on state and local governments already stretched thin — and on residents who cannot afford to wait.
Arizona families and small businesses will face slower response times, delayed aid, and more denials. Homeowners will plunge into debt after major floods and fires, and communities will lose essential cleanup support. More rural communities will fall through the cracks.
FEMA cuts hurt Arizona in the long run
Americans have seen failure before. Twenty years ago, the nation watched the catastrophic failure of the federal and state responses to Hurricane Katrina. I witnessed it firsthand while managing aid sites in Mississippi. The consequences of unprepared, understaffed and poorly coordinated disaster response were devastating and avoidable. I spent the last 20 years advocating for more effective, transparent, and accountable responses.
After Katrina, Congress strengthened FEMA’s authority, staffing, coordination and capacity and invested in preparedness, planning, training and greater access and inclusion for people with disabilities. The reforms reflected a bipartisan consensus: When disasters overwhelm states, the federal government must be ready to act.
The Trump Administration’s weakening of FEMA is a fatal error and mocks 20 years of bipartisan efforts to do better. Slashing staff and capacity does not save money; it increases human and financial costs by delaying response, prolonging recovery, and compounding damage. Preparedness and coordination are not bureaucratic luxuries — they are life-saving investments.
Tragically, history is repeating itself, as President Trump’s obsessions with vindictive policy decrees, indiscriminate cuts, and use of the National Guard for political stunts make another Katrina-scale disaster inevitable. Scores of post-Katrina improvements have already been reversed.
The Trump cuts are creating nobody-home conditions across our entire federal government. Instead of one essential worker out sick, entire life-saving offices and agencies are wiped out, leaving it derelict in its duties and unable to effectively predict, respond and coordinate.
Why is FEMA assistance being cut back?
While states like Arizona play an essential role, they do not have the same tools as the federal government. Only the federal government can mobilize nationwide logistics, surge personnel across state lines, deploy large-scale air and maritime assets, and use authorities like the Defense Production Act to stabilize supply chains and prevent price gouging during emergencies.
A gutted or disbanded FEMA will be unable to coordinate an effective response.
The motivation for cutting FEMA is not improving efficiency or effectiveness, or saving dollars, as Americans have been told. It is two-fold: funding massive tax breaks for the wealthiest and a belief that Americans will lose all trust in the federal government if FEMA and other agencies’ capabilities are neutralized by massive cuts and staff reductions. Somehow they can find millions of dollars to rename buildings, demolish the East Wing of the White House to build a ballroom, and bail out Argentina’s economy, yet they can’t afford to help families in Globe.
Disasters are precisely the moments when Americans expect — and need — the federal government to show up with helicopters, logistics, expertise, and funding. When federal agencies are hollowed out, Arizona gets flooded neighborhoods, closed hospitals, and waiting families.
Arizona’s representatives in Congress know that Arizona will face tremendous hardship if FEMA is further weakened and that there has always been bipartisan interest in improving and modernizing federal capabilities.
Another major fire and flood is inevitable. Arizonans deserve a federal government ready to do its job.