Earlier this week, every Kentucky federal lawmaker sent a letter to the White House to urge President Trump to unlock financial aid programs for households in at least 10 counties impacted by flooding and other severe weather.
They estimated at least 8,000 homes and businesses across the state were destroyed or damaged by flooding and landslides that followed heavy rains and snow in recent weeks.
As of Friday morning, Trump had yet to approve the spending.
As our commonwealth faces severe storms and devastating flooding, I joined the entire Kentucky delegation in calling on President Trump to approve @GovAndyBeshear 's request for an Expedited Major Disaster Declaration.
— Rep. Morgan McGarvey (@RepMcGarvey) February 19, 2025
Our communities need assistance to recover and rebuild. pic.twitter.com/Wx7y5T58pI
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear is in Washington D.C. on Friday, lobbying Trump’s administration for Kentucky households to be eligible for disaster money. Beshear previously criticized plans to eliminate FEMA, while conceding that some improvement would be welcome.
“This is my number one most important job for the Commonwealth right now,” he said. “To help those who have been through the worst and hopefully opening up this ability to get a little bit of financial aid.”
FEMA coordinates with local governments to respond to disasters and funds some long-term disaster mitigation and relief programs. But the agency is increasingly strained as disasters are becoming “more frequent, severe and expensive,” according to the Congressional Research Service. FEMA is frequently criticized for having a labyrinth of rules around assistance that confuse survivors and keep them from accessing aid.
If Kentucky’s application for FEMA’s “individual assistance” program is approved, it could mean immediate grants of more than $700 for survivors and nearly $44,000 for household repairs and replacement of damaged property. Households have 18 months to apply and appeal these financial awards, but can appeal as many times as needed.
The initial application for aid is for Pike, Martin, Letcher, Knott, Breathitt, Clay, Owsley, Lee, Perry and Harlan counties. Counties can be added to the approval list as they meet a threshold for documented damages. As a result, local governments are urging citizens to send in pictures of damages.
Marko Bourne, a FEMA policy director during the George W. Bush administration, said approving disaster aid is ultimately the president’s “prerogative.”
He expects Trump will grant Kentucky’s request, regardless of politics, if it’s well established that local governments are overwhelmed.
“I would find it very difficult to believe the president would not approve it,” Bourne said.
Beshear’s request for aid comes in a week where scores of FEMA firings have made headlines.
“Under President [Donald] Trump’s leadership, we are making sweeping cuts and reform across the federal government to eliminate egregious waste and incompetence that has been happening for decades at the expense of the American taxpayer,” a FEMA spokesperson told The Washington Post.
Bourne said the layoffs won’t affect any of the programs that disaster survivors in Kentucky will be relying upon.
“This is not affecting response and it won’t,” Bourne said. “It’s unfair to characterize…the current DOGE efforts as undermining the ability to provide relief. FEMA, largely, is that federal checkbook to help.”
