On Sept. 21, U.S. Rep. Gabe Amo (D-R.I. 1) introduced a bill in the House of Representatives aimed at preventing the politicization of federal funding for disaster relief.
The proposed legislation, called the “Disaster Relief Fairness Act,” comes after the Federal Emergency Management Administration twice denied Rhode Island’s requests for disaster aid following a record-breaking February blizzard that dumped almost 40 inches of snow on the state and caused over $19 million of damages.
The corresponding Senate bill, introduced in July, is co-sponsored by U.S. Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.).
Under current federal law, only the sitting president can unlock federal disaster relief funds by declaring an emergency or a major disaster at a governor’s request. The proposed house legislation will force that decision to be based on existing FEMA benchmarks instead of a finding that the disaster is beyond state capability. The benchmarks include cost of damages, existing resource availability and impact to infrastructure.
“Instead of helping Rhode Island recover, (President) Trump is playing politics with disaster aid,” Amo stated in a press release shared with The Herald. “I’m proud to work with my delegation colleagues to prevent the president from using disaster assistance as political leverage.”
“Historically, Presidential Disaster Declarations have been administered mostly without regard to the alignment of the party of the governor requesting the declaration and the party of the sitting president,” Elizabeth Fussell, professor of epidemiology and of population studies and environment and society, wrote in an email to The Herald.
But according to a July 2026 PBS review, Trump has approved 80% of disaster funding requests from Republican governors, in contrast to only 60% of requests from Democratic governors.
“Disasters should not become political opportunities for presidents or governors to score points with the electorate,” Fussell wrote.
The White House and FEMA did not respond to The Herald’s requests for comment.
After Gov. Dan McKee appealed the denial of his request for emergency aid related to February’s blizzard, FEMA rejected it in a Sept. 2 letter without providing a reason why. But in a Sept. 3 X post, FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton wrote that Rhode Island, along with three other Democrat-led states, provided “no new information.”
“Winter weather is not new to the Northeast,” Hamilton wrote. “Federal disaster aid is not a backstop for routine state & local budgeting.”
Carl Austin Miller Grondin MPA’24, Mayor Brett Smiley’s press secretary, emphasized the impact of national decisions on individual communities.
In Providence, “federal assistance would have helped offset millions of dollars in unplanned expenses associated with responding to and recovering from this historic storm,” Grondin wrote. “Because many states including Rhode Island's request were denied, local communities must absorb those extraordinary costs on their own.”
“Those expenses ultimately compete with the same local resources used to provide everyday services and make long-term investments in our neighborhoods,” he added.
Stephanie Moniz, training and education coordinator at Groundwork Rhode Island — a charity that partnered with the city on snow removal efforts after February’s blizzard — advocated for the importance of local and community action in an era of inconsistent federal funds.
“We know that there are going to continue to be large weather events like we’ve already seen, and given the response we’ve seen from the federal administration, it looks like we are going to have to rely more and more on our neighbors,” she wrote to The Herald.
She called for greater investment “on both state and federal levels” in communities vulnerable to climate disasters.
Michelle Bi is a metro editor covering City Hall & Crime and State Politics & Justice. She is a junior from Oak Park, CA and studies English and IAPA. In her free time, you can find her playing guitar, the LA Times crossword or one of her 115 Spotify playlists.
