"Thousands of workers across the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will lose their jobs this year, according to multiple people who attended personnel meetings that supervisors held in the last week. FEMA supervisors warned that workers with multiyear contracts that are set to expire this year will not see those contracts extended, even if they are actively working on rebuilding efforts in places that recently suffered disasters."
"Unlike other federal agencies, FEMA relies on a large number of workers on two-to-four-year contracts. That's because Congress wanted the agency to be able to dial up the number of workers to meet demand after major events and reduce it during quieter periods. "It's a pretty significant part of the workforce," says Coen, who estimates that about 40% of FEMA workers are part of what's known as the CORE division, which is short for the Cadre of On-Call Response/Recovery"
"President Trump has repeatedly stated that he believes FEMA is ineffective and should be eliminated as it currently exists, although the administration has not released a long-awaited report on specific reforms. "I think it's irresponsible," says Michael Coen, who served as FEMA chief of staff under the Biden and Obama administrations. "I think it's going to adversely affect FEMA's ability to respond and help communities recover.""
Thousands of FEMA workers face job losses this year as supervisors said multiyear contracts that expire will not be extended, even for staff engaged in active rebuilding. Some agency divisions could lose roughly half their personnel if current policies continue. FEMA depends on two-to-four-year contract workers to surge staffing after major events and scale back during quieter periods. About 40% of the workforce is estimated to be part of the CORE on-call cadre. The White House and FEMA did not answer questions about the cuts. Observers warn the reductions could hinder disaster response and recovery.
Read at www.npr.org
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