With devastating floods ravaging Texas, it’s clear that Trump and Texas Republicans have abandoned Americans facing natural disasters, gutting weather forecasting and disaster response, and undermining the early warning systems that save lives. Year after year, Texas Republicans blocked using surplus funding for Kerr County’s proposed emergency alert system. As the Trump administration moves to slash federal resources for disasters, Governor Greg Abbott and Republicans in Texas have utterly failed to fill the gaps left behind, even recently rejecting a bill that would have funded new emergency communications systems across the state. Trump and Republicans like Ted Cruz instead want to continue gutting the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), zero-out weather research funding, and even phase out the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) entirely while funding massive tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy.
BACKGROUND
- TEXAS REPUBLICANS BLOCKED FUNDING FOR EMERGENCY ALERT INFRASTRUCTURE THIS YEAR. GOP lawmakers in Texas, including state Republicans representing Kerr County, blocked a bill earlier this year that would have established a grant program for counties to build new emergency communication infrastructure, including outdoor warning sirens and emergency alert systems.
- TEXAS REPUBLICANS REJECTED FUNDING FOR KERR COUNTY EMERGENCY ALERTS FOR YEARS WHILE RUNNING A BUDGET SURPLUS. For nearly a decade, Kerr County asked Texas Republicans to help pay for a flood warning system. Local officials specifically flagged the risk of floods impacting summer camps along the Guadalupe River in 2016. The proposal would have cost just $1 million, but Texas Republicans refused – even though the state of Texas had a budget surplus in 2015 and 2016 when the proposal was sent.
- TEXAS SENATOR TED CRUZ SOLD OUT HIS STATE BY CUTTING HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS IN WEATHER FORECASTING FUNDING. Trump’s big, ugly bill, which he signed into law on July 4th, included language added by Senator Cruz cutting millions in weather forecasting funding. Cruz eliminated a $150 million grant “accelerat[ing] advances and improvements in research, observation systems, modeling, forecasting, assessments, and dissemination of information to the public” related to weather forecasting. He also eliminated a $50 million grant for research on climate impacts on weather systems.
- TOP TEXAS REPUBLICANS WERE MIA DURING THE DISASTER. Texas Senator Ted Cruz was vacationing in Europe during the storm, and Texas Governor Greg Abbott remained in California for hours after news of the flood emerged.
- TRUMP IS ENDING FEDERAL DISASTER RESPONSE AS WE KNOW IT, COSTING TEXAS HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS. Trump targeted federal disaster funds as part of his DOGE cuts earlier this year. He has already slashed 20 percent of FEMA’s full-time staff and moved to freeze its funds. The Trump administration plans to phase out FEMA entirely and shift its responsibilities to the states. In April, the Trump administration announced the cancellation of FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program and the removal of Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) funding for 2025. The cancellation immediately jeopardizes $74 million in BRIC hazard mitigation funding previously planned to be allocated to Texas. Texas is also the second-highest recipient of FMA funding, receiving nearly $400 million between 2020 and 2024.
- TRUMP IS GUTTING WEATHER FORECASTING. Trump gutted key weather agencies as part of his DOGE cuts earlier this year as well. 10 percent of NOAA’s workforce, around 1,300 staffers and researchers, have left under Trump. Just last week, Trump called for reducing NOAA’s workforce by a further 17 percent – more than 2,000 staffers and researchers. Nearly half of National Weather Service (NWS) forecast offices were “critically understaffed” as of April 2025, with 20 percent vacancy rates due to Trump’s cuts. Now, 25 percent of NWS stations – including key coastal Texas stations like Houston – lack a meteorologist-in-charge. Trump plans to completely zero-out NOAA’s weather research, weather laboratories, and tornado and severe storm research budget.
HEADLINES
- The Texas Tribune: Texas Lawmakers Failed To Pass A Bill To Improve Local Disaster Warning Systems This Year.
- USA Today: Texas County Where Campers Died Was Denied Money To Boost Warning Systems.
- The Wall Street Journal: Officials Pushed for Better Warning System for Years Before Deadly Floods.
- ABC News: ‘We Are Very Flood Prone’: Local Texas Officials Spent Years Discussing Potential Warning System.
- KSAT: Kerr County Commissioners Had Conversations About Flood Warning System Almost A Decade Ago.
- The Guardian: Ted Cruz Ensured Trump Spending Bill Slashed Weather Forecasting Funding.
- Associated Press: Texas Officials Face Scrutiny Over Response To Catastrophic And Deadly Flooding.
- CBS News: Deadly Texas Floods Raise Questions About Emergency Alerts And Whether Staffing Cuts Affected Forecasts And Warnings.
- ABC News: Some Former Texas County Officials Thought Informal Phone Calls, Not Sirens, Would Be Sufficient In A Flood.
- CNN: Local Officials Facing Questions Over Their Actions In The Years And Hours Before Deadly Texas Floods.
- The Cascadia Advocate: Better Emergency Preparedness Likely Could Have Saved The People Who Died In The July 4th Texas Hill Country Flash Floods.