H.R.4669 - FEMA Act of 2025 (119th Congress) Sponsor: Rep. Graves, Sam [R-MO-6] (Introduced 07/23/2025)

Has changes in:

Cosponsors (1 new, 72 total) Cosponsor: 05/12/2026: Rep. Craig, Angie [D-MN-2]

What is the FEMA Act

Cabinet-Level Independence: The bill re-establishes FEMA as an independent, cabinet-level agency (moving it out of the Department of Homeland Security) to provide the Administrator with a direct line to the President.

Regional Empowerment: It grants FEMA Regional Administrators increased authority to make funding decisions and work directly with state governors and local officials.

Public Assistance (PA): Transitions from a reimbursement model to a grant-based model. It introduces block grants for small disasters ($1 million–$10 million) and requires FEMA to provide 25% of emergency work funding within 10 days of a declaration.

Individual Assistance (IA): Mandates a universal application system to consolidate various federal aid programs. It also requires "plain-language" communications to survivors to replace complex legal jargon.

Mitigation & Resilience: Expands eligibility for projects involving utility resilience, broadband, and cybersecurity. It also offers higher federal cost shares for communities that adopt modern building codes.

Real-Time Dashboards: FEMA must establish public portals to track project approvals, cost estimates, and disbursement statuses.

Safe Harbor Protections: Protects local governments from retroactive penalties if they followed FEMA's written guidance in good faith.

Anti-Politicization: Strictly prohibits political discrimination in the delivery of disaster assistance and requires a GAO review of all existing FEMA regulations.

Thoughts, opinions, observations? Looks like they're following the Project 2025 playbook.

Employees who were released in January and are now being rehired still have to complete the new hire orientation week in Anniston. Since FEMA doesn’t appear to be actively hiring externally right now, I’m assuming it’ll mostly be returning employees attending.

Does anyone know if the orientation content will be exactly the same? Trying to figure out whether it’ll mostly be a repeat of topics we already completed before. I'm really hoping it's not full days of information we already know but I have doubts, considering how last minute all of this is.

My original orientation was 10 years ago when they still did them in Leesburg, VA.

Had a conversation with a hiring manager earlier about possibly bringing a few former staff (that left during DRP) back once he’s cleared to hire. He said he was on the fence because although they were great employees they 1) jumped ship with no plan and enjoyed the money until it ran out and 2) were absolutely aligned with this administration’s policies UNTIL they realized that it now affected them. My question is would you rehire staff that didn’t align with your morals that left your team to fend for self, knowing they more than likely voted for the current administration?

The chatter on here is transitioning to “hiring will begin soon” and you are thinking things will improve. Meanwhile we don’t even have a qualified candidate interested in running the agency in an official capacity. Some of you haven’t noticed the pattern…quickly take action to demoralize staff along with some cuts, then they get their hand slapped and they back off and let the dust settle, then repeat.

They’ve suffered in this latest lawsuit and are rehiring, but they will find another way. Keep your head on a swivel. Don’t trust liars cause they tell you what you want to hear.

I can confirm that OCHCO has sent TJOs to everyone that lost their positions in January. From what we’ve been told, these people were never officially out processed, meaning their SF-52 was not updated this entire time and some have still been utilizing their federal health benefits despite not collecting a paycheck.

I’m curious…despite the offboarding letters from HR, since they weren’t fully processed out could they have just continued working this whole time? This whole thing has been a huge cluster eff.

Has anyone else noticed that Karen Evan’s photo has gone missing from fema.gov and is now an error page? Also her bio is no longer a live link. It is hard to tell if she still works for FEMA since she never really attended the morning briefs but at least in the past she existed online. Recent emails that used to come from the administrator or chief of staff (both her according to the org chart) now just come genetically from FEMA. Does anyone know what is going on-factually?

I followed the link and signed up for the review board meeting but haven’t received any sort of confirmation. Has anyone else signed up and received a link or instructions? I have my popcorn ready and don’t want to miss this!

Based on some articles it seems like the hiring freeze may be ending. Has anyone heard anything about this? It would be great to see what positions are available so we can apply and perhaps end up in a better position than we are in now ie reservist to CORE, CORE to PFT etc. Also it would be nice to head into hurricane season with a bench that wasn’t half empty…

So, last year, I was in process of being hired as a hazard mitigation reservist. As late as April 2025, my hiring manager affirmed that everything looked normal and I was really just waiting for an EOD; she insisted that there was always need for hazard mitigation specialists. And then I never heard from her again.

In the meantime, I scrambled to find another job, which took all of my time and energy, and then the new job took all my time and energy, and I was just depressed about the state of affairs.

I’m still sad about that job not materializing. I wasn’t expecting it to be glamorous, but I’ve wanted to work for FEMA for years. Shortly after I got my TJO, I spent a day in the field office getting fingerprinted for my sf-85 and generally oriented, and everyone just seemed like really good people. I was so excited to work there.

I suspect my hiring manager must have taken one fork in the road or the other—she was on the senior side and it likely would have made sense for her to retire—but I have no way of knowing.

Anyways, is there any way of finding out what actually happened to my file/hiring action? Should I try contacting her manager (who also interviewed me)? Is it even worth it? Should I just keep an eye on USAjobs? Would I show up in the system as having received a TJO before and/or as having an approved SF-85p?

I’d be so grateful for any shred of insight. 🩵

Give the states money and don’t ask any questions about what they do with it.

Clarification regarding several points discussed recently about deployment selection, Mission Critical designations, and how personnel are prioritized for current and future disaster operations.

During recent conversations and meetings, there were references to distinctions between Mission Critical and Non Mission Critical roles, as well as the impact of these classifications on deployment opportunities. I would appreciate guidance on whether these categories are formally recognized within our cadre structure, and if so, how they influence the selection process for Reservists.

Additionally, I would like to better understand how Qualified and Candidate statuses are evaluated when Requests for Personnel are submitted by the field. From what I have observed, it appears that deployment decisions may be influenced not only by qualification status, but also by the amount of prior field experience, leadership history, and the specific roles individuals have performed in past disasters.

For example, in my case as an LSB2 with one 50 week deployment, and with limited deployment time as FACL and partial experience performing SPUL duties, I am trying to understand how this compares to other personnel who may have more extensive experience in these roles. My goal is to identify any gaps I may need to address and to ensure I am aligned with the expectations of the cadre.

I want to ensure I have accurate information about how deployment decisions are made, especially given the extended period I have been in Non Deployment Status.

That's why SOR were Reorganized?

update: my friend has sought counsel with an attorney and filed an EEO. In context, the supervisor cannot deny an interim without providing an alternative and also cannot remove essential functions of her job either, regardless of whatever is transpiring with the agency. Thank you all for helping

My friend has a documented musculoskeletal disability. Her prior supervisor granted her an interim reasonable accomodation to help her manage her symptoms. The RA was working.

The supervisor left and she now as an acting supervisor. That supervisor has now denied her interim accomodation citing policy reasons, hasn't given her the new policy cited as the basis for the denial, hasn't given her a new accomodation, tells her to go to another person for a new accomodation and then strips away all of her job functions to effectively reassign her into a new position without actually reassigning her.

Admittedly (to me) this feels like the new supervisor is fucking with her simply because they can and I suspect it's because she had an accomodation. Based on my knowledge of reasonable accomodations- an interim can be denied but an alternative accomodation must be provided and cannot cite vague "policy changes" as the basis.

My friend really does embody what it means to be a fed: she's decent, hardworking and will always help someone in need, even if she doesn't have the answers. She used to volunteer as a kangaroo mom in the NICU with babies born addicted. I've watched her log on to work even when she's supposed to be on leave- because, that is what is required of her, and she never complains about it.

Can someone please help me help my friend?

I know we were told last year that our unions were going away but has anyone gotten an updated 50 removing the 1059 union code? I definitely still have it on my most recent 50.

Good Morning, r/FEMA:

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