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Reposted by Sarah Labowitz

Thomas Warrick @tomwarrickac.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

Interesting numbers in $2.2 billion in FEMA funding announced today for past disasters. The DHS press release lists only the 15 largest of 1,721 recovery projects, but of those $875 million, $768 million went to states that voted for President Trump. www.dhs.gov/news/2026/01...

dhs.gov

Secretary Noem Unlocks More Than $2.2 Billion in Additional Federal Funding to Rebuild Communities Hit by Past Disasters | Homeland Security

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem announced more than $2.2 billion in disaster relief funding to support ongoing recovery efforts from a variety of natural disasters.

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Reposted by Sarah Labowitz

Carnegie Endowment @carnegieendowment.org · 27/08/2025

Hurricane Katrina was a “before-and-after moment” for emergency management in the U.S., says @sarahlabo.bsky.social. The Trump administration’s cuts to FEMA are setting 2025 up to be another. Sarah explained on @kcrw.com: www.kcrw.com/news/shows/p...

kcrw.com

20 years after Katrina, FEMA is under threat | Press Play

President Trump has said he wants to get rid of FEMA and shift relief responsibility to the states. FEMA employees say this leaves the U.S. unprepared for the next Hurricane Katrina.

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Sarah Labowitz @sarahlabo.bsky.social · 23/07/2025

Acting #FEMA Administrator Richardson said today that the response in Texas was nearly perfect (we'll see). But what about all the other places that are waiting and waiting for FEMA to show up? I talked to Mayor @caraspencer.bsky.social in STL to find out. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

washingtonpost.com

Opinion | Trump has turned FEMA itself into a disaster

The Trump administration is mired in delays for deciding on governors’ requests for FEMA help.

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Sarah Labowitz @sarahlabo.bsky.social · 22/07/2025

Here's #disaster data as of today on open disaster declaration requests and how the administration is batching governors' requests for #FEMA help...

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Reposted by Sarah Labowitz

Carnegie Endowment @carnegieendowment.org · 30/06/2025

🧵President Trump and his administration frame disaster recovery as a question of state-level self-sufficiency. But does that reflect the reality? Some of our Sustainability, Climate, and Geopolitics scholars provide some clarity.

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Reposted by Sarah Labowitz

Carnegie Endowment @carnegieendowment.org · 30/06/2025

Even in states with big economies – like Texas and Florida – rebuilding after a disaster without federal assistance is functionally impossible. @sarahlabo.bsky.social breaks it down: youtube.com/shorts/fTR5D...

youtube.com

Disaster Recovery: Can States Pick Up the Tab?

YouTube video by Carnegie Explains

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Sarah Labowitz @sarahlabo.bsky.social · 26/06/2025

Hurricane season is off to a rocky start. For some disasters, the admin is taking *months* to approve governors' requests for disaster declarations that activate federal help. Average number of outstanding requests in the 2 weeks before hurricane season for the last decade: 4. This year? 13.

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Sarah Labowitz @sarahlabo.bsky.social · 26/06/2025

Spreading out disaster risk across a big and rich country makes so much more sense than concentrating the risk in a few states. Our latest on the start of hurricane season, with @leonardom-d.bsky.social & Debbra Goh carnegieendowment.org/emissary/202...

carnegieendowment.org

Trump’s Plan to Push FEMA’s Role to the States Will Be a Fiscal Disaster

Many states are not equipped to handle their own recovery without federal help.

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Reposted by Sarah Labowitz

Carnegie Endowment @carnegieendowment.org · 09/06/2025

The Trump administration’s cuts to critical FEMA programs have left communities – even in red counties – struggling to pick up the pieces. @sarahlabo.bsky.social weighed in on support for one cancelled program for @nytimes.com:

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Sarah Labowitz @sarahlabo.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

Investing in creatives to be creative is the work of “narrative.” In spaces I’m in, “narrative” is abstract. It’s reports, trainings, prescriptions for what narrative “should” be - everything except creating compelling content about characters & events that people want to read/watch/consume.

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Sarah Labowitz @sarahlabo.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

The team at E&E interviewed *so many* people for this story, every one of them worried and confused about how we're going to respond to disasters this summer www.eenews.net/articles/cha...

eenews.net

Chaos at FEMA, NOAA as hurricane season starts

Faltering forecasts, fired experts and whipsawing policy changes are raising questions about how the Trump administration will respond to disasters this

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Sarah Labowitz @sarahlabo.bsky.social · 24/05/2025

@arunadsouza.bsky.social gives Vincent Valdez all of his flowers in this portrait 🌸🌺🌼. If you don’t know Vincent’s gorgeous work that holds a mirror up to all of us, this is a great place to start. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/23/a...

nytimes.com

A ‘Chicano Hieronymus Bosch’ Has an Unflinching Vision of America

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Sarah Labowitz @sarahlabo.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

Helping these women finally get back on the field has been the highlight of 2025 so far. Good things come from supporting women’s sports ⚽️💕🌈 www.khou.com/video/news/l...

khou.com

Afghan women’s soccer team holds first U.S. practice in Houston after fleeing from the Taliban

After moving around a bit, Sodaba Khinjani and some of her teammates finally settled in Houston in June 2023.

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Sarah Labowitz @sarahlabo.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

Lots of talk about TX and FL and their capacity to meet disaster needs as FEMA seeks to push responsibility for response and recovery to the state level. Since 2015, FEMA sent $6.6B to Texas for disasters and $13.2B to FL.

Bar chart of "FEMA Funding for Florida and Texas" from Jan 2015 to Jan 2025

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Reposted by Sarah Labowitz

Carnegie Endowment @carnegieendowment.org · 09/05/2025

“The U.S. federal disaster aid system, including FEMA, needs to change to deliver on a national security imperative and meet a moment.” For notes on how it could change, read the latest from @sarahlabo.bsky.social and @leonardom-d.bsky.social: carnegieendowment.org/emissary/202...

carnegieendowment.org

FEMA Needs to Change. A New Bill in Congress Shows Promise.

With hurricane season rapidly approaching, Congress and the administration need to work together to overhaul the U.S. disaster aid recovery system—not gut it.

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Reposted by Sarah Labowitz

Carnegie Endowment @carnegieendowment.org · 09/05/2025

Hurricane season is just around the corner. But FEMA, already under intense scrutiny from the Trump administration, just lost its acting administrator. @sarahlabo.bsky.social weighed in for @washingtonpost.com 👇 Full article here: buff.ly/4of5Lma

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Sarah Labowitz @sarahlabo.bsky.social · 29/04/2025

I have to know: is AOC on Ravelry (i.e. the best social network)?? #knitsky

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Reposted by Sarah Labowitz

Thomas Warrick @tomwarrickac.bsky.social · 29/04/2025

On April 28, the White House and DHS announced the FEMA Review Council “charged with streamlining operations and ensuring FEMA delivers rapid, efficient, and mission-focused relief to Americans in need.” www.fox13news.com/news/mayor-c...

fox13news.com

Mayor Castor to serve on Trump's FEMA Review Council

President Donald Trump has tapped Tampa Mayor Jane Castor to serve on the new FEMA Review Council, federal officials announced Monday.

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Sarah Labowitz @sarahlabo.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

Ag got $33.2B in the Dec 20th CR, so this is mostly programming the funds that they received last year (For context, HUD rushed to release their allocations in January). www.usda.gov/about-usda/n...

usda.gov

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Sarah Labowitz @sarahlabo.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

The news has been flying fast and furious on FEMA. @tomwarrickac.bsky.social rounds up the highlights...

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Reposted by Sarah Labowitz

Carnegie Endowment @carnegieendowment.org · 26/03/2025

🧵On Monday, after Sec. Kristi Noem suggested eliminating FEMA and two lawmakers proposed making it a Cabinet-level department, the beleaguered agency’s future grew even more uncertain. Carnegie’s @sarahlabo.bsky.social provided some clarity. See the recent impact of her work 👇

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Sarah Labowitz @sarahlabo.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

It's pretty remarkable that we've moved from "get rid of FEMA as it exists today" to a 240-day review of national preparedness and response policies www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

whitehouse.gov

Achieving Efficiency Through State and Local Preparedness

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1. Purpose.

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Sarah Labowitz @sarahlabo.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

Thanks for the shoutout @hcrichardson.bsky.social! "if we stop spreading the costs [of disasters] around the country, then it's going to fall on states, and it's going to fall on states really unevenly.” heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-17-2...

heathercoxrichardson.substack.com

March 17, 2025

From 1942 to 1945, the Code Talkers were key to every major operation of the Marine Corps in the Pacific Theater.

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Sarah Labowitz @sarahlabo.bsky.social · 16/03/2025

Shout it from the rooftops: resource creators to be creative and distribution channels so their work can be seen and heard. So tired of hearing about “messaging” in my circles. Messaging is by & for consultants.

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Reposted by Sarah Labowitz

Alex Fitzpatrick @alexjamesfitz.com · 13/03/2025

NEW: Data from @sarahlabo.bsky.social shows which states would face the biggest financial burdens in a world with less or no federal disaster relief www.axios.com/2025/03/13/f...

axios.com

These states could suffer the most without FEMA

Some of the most disaster-prone states would face the greatest financial burdens with less federal relief assistance.

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Reposted by Sarah Labowitz

Katelynn Vogt @katelynnvogt.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

"Up to now, when there is a disaster, the government responds. They clean up the debris, they rebuild the schools, they run shelters, they clean the drinking water" What if FEMA goes away? @sarahlabo.bsky.social data in @axios.com breaks down the state/local impact: www.axios.com/2025/03/13/f...

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Reposted by Sarah Labowitz

Carnegie Endowment @carnegieendowment.org · 13/03/2025

@sarahlabo.bsky.social: “If we stop spreading the costs around the country, then it's going to fall on states, and it's going to fall on states really unevenly." Read more in @axios.com: www.axios.com/2025/03/13/f...

axios.com

These states could suffer the most without FEMA

Some of the most disaster-prone states would face the greatest financial burdens with less federal relief assistance.

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Reposted by Sarah Labowitz

Erin Sikorsky @erinsikorsky.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

NOAA's billion dollar disaster tracking and web tools seem to be down. www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/billi...

ncei.noaa.gov

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Sarah Labowitz @sarahlabo.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

“Misrepresenting what FEMA is doing for disaster survivors only makes recovery harder and adds stress to what people in North Carolina, Florida and California are going through right now.” www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

washingtonpost.com

Trump revokes $80 million in FEMA grants from NYC, fires 4 top officials

Trump administration officials terminated four FEMA officials and then took back millions in reimbursement funds meant to house migrants.

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Sarah Labowitz @sarahlabo.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

"Ironically, Florida, Louisiana, and Texas, three Republican-leaning Southern states frequently hit by hurricanes, rank among the top recipients of FEMA funds, according to the Carnegie Disaster Dollar Database." www.newsweek.com/can-donald-t... @jesusmesa.bsky.social

newsweek.com

Can Donald Trump abolish FEMA?

Trump renewed calls to terminate FEMA after his administration fired four employees, including its CFO, over federal funds used to house migrants in NYC hotels.

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Sarah Labowitz @sarahlabo.bsky.social · 11/02/2025

I wrote about things to watch after the #lafires at the end of Jan (w/ the fab Debbra Goh). One thing we're keeping an eye on is how many people are applying for help from FEMA. The numbers are so much bigger than for any previous fire carnegieendowment.org/emissary/202...

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Reposted by Sarah Labowitz

Amanda Terkel @aterkel.bsky.social · 11/02/2025

SCOOP from @nbcnews.com — A senior FEMA official instructed subordinates to freeze funding for a wide array of grant programs Monday, just hours after a federal judge ordered the Trump administration — for the second time — to stop such pauses. www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...

nbcnews.com

FEMA official ignores judge's latest order, demands freeze on grant funding

Federal workers are being swept into the fight between Donald Trump and federal courts, with four FEMA aides fired Tuesday for being "deep state activists."

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Sarah Labowitz @sarahlabo.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

FEMA reform is being framed as giving state and local governments more control. Currently, the biggest program for disaster recovery is FEMA's Public Assistance program, which reimburses state & local governments for their disaster recovery expenses.

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Sarah Labowitz @sarahlabo.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

Excellent reporting from the @washingtonpost.com team about how DOGE employees without security clearances now have access to individual Americans' disaster data at FEMA www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

washingtonpost.com

Elon Musk’s agents have gained access to FEMA’s sensitive disaster data

Representatives from Elon Musk’s DOGE were said to be examining data on FEMA grants, according to staff members.

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Sarah Labowitz @sarahlabo.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

Seeing the disaster conspiracy playbook run wild again during the #LAfires. It's 2 parts: 1) undermine government emergency responders, 2) divide people who need help. There's even evidence that foreign gov'ts are running the playbook in disaster after disaster. carnegieendowment.org/posts/2024/1...