{"id":32749,"date":"2026-08-08T16:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T11:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=32749"},"modified":"2026-08-08T16:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T11:00:08","slug":"senate-confirms-cameron-hamilton-to-lead-fema","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=32749","title":{"rendered":"Senate confirms Cameron Hamilton to lead FEMA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/AP25127708994382-e1746728188637.jpg?w=900\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\n        <iframe id=\"instaread_iframe\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Audio Article\" style=\"display:block\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\"><\/iframe>\n    <\/p>\n<p><\/instaread-player><\/p>\n<p>The Senate has confirmed President Trump\u2019s pick to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which has <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/energy-environment\/6009019-gao-fema-staffing-disaster-response\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/energy-environment\/6009019-gao-fema-staffing-disaster-response\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">faced significant scrutiny<\/a> for its handling of disasters and funding under the Trump administration.<\/p>\n<p>The Senate approved the nomination of Cameron Hamilton to lead the agency as part of a larger <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/119th-congress\/senate-resolution\/817\/text\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">slate of 74 nominations<\/a>\u00a0confirmed together as a block\u00a0in a 51-47 vote.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr1_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Also confirmed in the vote was Hal Duncan,\u00a0who will be the deputy director of the White House Office of Management and Budget.<\/p>\n<p>Hamilton previously served as FEMA\u2019s acting leader at the start of the Trump administration, but he was ousted after saying that the agency should not be eliminated, contradicting Trump and then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.<\/p>\n<p>He was nominated to lead the disaster response agency after Noem\u2019s departure earlier this year. <\/p>\n<p>In his confirmation hearing, Hamilton said FEMA should seek to \u201cstrike a new balance\u201d that encourages cost savings.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think many states and local officials have had incentives to drive up costs,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, they\u2019re entitled to support. We, as the agency, have confirmed we would need to strike a new balance to encourage cost reasonableness and cost savings,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr2_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>However, he also backed away from an\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2025\/04\/25\/politics\/fema-aid-disaster-assistance-memo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">idea he floated last year<\/a>\u00a0that would have quadrupled the threshold for states to qualify for a major disaster declaration and attached federal assistance.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As the Trump administration has moved away from calling for shuttering FEMA outright, the president and other leaders have indicated that they want to dole out less assistance to states.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, some critics have argued that Hamilton lacks qualifications for the role. <\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr3_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Shana Udvardy, senior climate resilience policy analyst with the Climate and Energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), said in a written statement that Hamilton \u201clacks the experience and qualifications\u2026to lead such a critical agency.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/109th-congress\/senate-bill\/3721\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">law<\/a>\u00a0passed after Hurricane Katrina requires the administrator to have \u201csignificant experience\u201d in crisis management or related fields and at least five years of executive leadership and management experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt a time when climate change is worsening extreme weather disasters across the nation, it\u2019s imperative FEMA\u2019s leader has the appropriate expertise and is wholeheartedly committed to keeping people safe,\u201d Udvardy said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr4_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Meanwhile, Duncan, who was confirmed to the White House budget office role, made news saying he\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/live-updates\/2026\/06\/16\/congress\/pocket-rescissions-on-the-table-00963376\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><u>\u201ccan\u2019t commit\u201d<\/u><\/a>\u00a0that the Trump administration won\u2019t cancel funding without congressional approval.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Senate has confirmed President Trump\u2019s pick to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which has faced significant scrutiny for its handling of disasters and funding under the Trump administration. The Senate approved the nomination of Cameron Hamilton to lead the agency as part of a larger slate of 74 nominations\u00a0confirmed together as a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32750,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/AP25127708994382-e1746728188637.jpg?w=1280","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}