1. United States
2. N.Y.
3. Letter

As the ongoing climate crisis rears its ugly head, the frequency of expensive natural disasters is increasing. It is a common practice for state and local officials to declare states of emergency to get the necessary financial help from the federal government that is needed to help with recovery efforts. In the past, regardless of whether the President was a Democrat or a Republican, most disaster requests were allowed. But a disturbing trend is starting in which President Trump is playing politics regarding those crucial aid dollars. Andrew Rumbach runs a live dashboard regarding disaster declarations since the 2nd Trump Administration began. He is a senior fellow at the Urban Institute's Housing and Communities division, who has a BA in Political Science from Reed College and a PhD and MRP in city and regional planning from Cornell University. He was also a tenured professor at Texas A&M and the University of Colorado Denver. According to his data (as of July 11th, 2026), 54 out of the 64 (84.4%) of disaster requests from Republican states were approved, while only 9 out of the 22 requests from Democratic states (40.9%) were approved. Furthermore, it's taking almost double the amount of time on average to decide disaster relief requests in Democratic states (103.9 days) compared to disaster relief requests in Republican states (55.2 days). Decisions regarding disaster requests in general are taking too long, taking over 3 times as long on average in the 2nd Trump Administration (70.4 days) compared to past administrations from 2000-2024 (22.2 days). This hampers recovery efforts after natural disasters and prolongs the suffering of Americans who were unfortunate enough to have gone through these natural disasters. It's absolutely unacceptable for disaster aid requests to be accepted on party lines. It's also unacceptable for decisions regarding disaster relief to be taking this long. I am demanding that Congress pass a law requiring the President to accept natural disaster relief requests from state and local officials regardless of political affiliation within 30 days in accordance with FEMA guidelines.