Kylie Caldwell
Gaylord News
WASHINGTON — A sweeping restructuring of the Federal Emergency Management Agency could be on tap when Congress returns from its July 4 recess, a move that could redefine for Oklahoma what disaster recovery looks like in a state long dependent on federal assistance.
But two of Oklahoma’s most senior members of Congress, Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, Chickasaw, and U.S. Sen. James Lankford, are urging the Trump administration’s FEMA Review Council to consider long-term impacts before finalizing its proposed overhaul of the federal government’s main disaster agency.
Congress is set to return from recess on July 14.
“We need to be careful about not throwing the baby out with the bathwater,” said Cole, a resident of Moore, Oklahoma, and chair of the powerful House Appropriations Committee.
The city of Moore is an Oklahoma case study in why FEMA matters. An EF5 tornado struck Moore in May 2013, killing 24 people, leveling entire neighborhoods and causing more than $2 billion in damage. An official with Moore’s community development agency said the city wouldn’t be the same without FEMA’s support.
In a letter to the White House, Lankford urged officials to listen to Oklahoma officials.
“Given our experience with natural disasters, I respectfully request that the Council solicit feedback from emergency management leaders in Oklahoma,” Lankford wrote.
Since 2020, FEMA has paid Oklahoma victims about $447 million, said Keli Cain, a spokesperson for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.
In just 2024, approximately $13 million in direct federal assistance was given to Oklahoma. And following the March 2025 wildfires, FEMA opened disaster recovery centers across seven counties.
The FEMA Review Council has voices from hurricane coastlines and flood zones, but none from so-called Tornado Alley in the central U.S., where disasters move fast and often without warning.
The council was ordered by President Donald Trump to evaluate the disaster agency’s long-term role in national disaster response and whether greater responsibility should shift to states.
The council could accelerate efforts to reduce federal reimbursement rates and dismantle programs that have long been considered essential in situations of emergency. The argument is often framed as empowering local control but it could carry major financial and logistical implications.
The council consists of five Republicans and two Democrats, along with six federal and state emergency management officials.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who co-chairs the council, addressed Oklahoma’s absence, saying she asked Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt for “insight and wisdom” in the first meeting on May 20. The council discussed during the meeting the goals to streamline the agency while addressing its recent delays in responding to North Carolina and Florida.
Stitt’s office did not respond to whether it had offered the information sought by the committee.
But the Trump administration doesn’t appear to be satisfied with the goal of streamlining. On June 10, Trump gave the most detailed response yet to the reforms.
“We’re moving it back to the states, so the governors can handle,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “That’s why they’re governors. If they can’t handle it, they shouldn’t be governor.”
Lankford, of Oklahoma City, supports reform but emphasizes continuity, saying too many agencies have responsibilities under the federal disaster framework and major reforms are necessary to ensure Americans are best supported in times of need.
In the letter, the senator said Trump should consider eliminating non-emergency response duties, including the U.S. Department of Commerce, among several others, that are bogging down efficiency.
Lankford has introduced four bills to build on Trump’s effort to address FEMA issues: cutting red tape on unnecessary environmental and historic preservation review requirements, creating a pilot program for communities applying directly for property acquisitions, creating readiness and resilience measures, and prohibiting discrimination based on political affiliation in federal disaster relief.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin, Cherokee Nation, a Republican from Westville, Oklahoma, emphasized his belief in local leadership over federal intervention regarding disaster response to Hurricane Helene on Fox Business’ The Bottom Line. Those waiting on the government to act in a disaster could be waiting indefinitely, he said.
“It’s not FEMA that’s going to respond, it’s the local people,” he said.
But last June, he said federal financial assistance is imperative in times of need when he visited tornado-wrecked Claremore, Oklahoma.
And while Cole agreed that FEMA needs reform, he defined the agency as instrumental in recovery efforts in every disaster he’s seen.
“When state and local resources are exhausted, we do rely on FEMA to bring additional capabilities that save residents, remove debris and help our fellow citizens rebuild,” Cole said.
During the hearing, Cole reminded Noem that the Appropriations Committee was looking forward to receiving a plan from the administration about how the grants will be reinstated.
For many survivors and local officials, imagining a response without federal support is not just hypothetical.
“This isn’t a partisan issue. It’s one that concerns states, regardless of politics,” Cole said.
Gaylord News is a reporting project of the University of Oklahoma Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication. For more stories by Gaylord News go to GaylordNews.net.