On January 25, 2025, Florida Senator Ashley Moody voted to confirm Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security, the department that runs FEMA. Under Noem, over 4,300 employees separated from FEMA in fiscal year 2025, and in April 2025 FEMA ended its main disaster-prevention grant program, in which 22 counties that stood to benefit from nearly $250 million in grants in Florida took part. A federal judge later ruled the termination unlawful, and FEMA reopened the program under court order in 2026.
Moody also voted no on a measure affirming FEMA's role in disaster relief, voted to confirm Markwayne Mullin, under whom the administration denied 22 requests for major disaster declarations in 2026 by late August, and voted to confirm Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick as the National Weather Service lost staff before the 2025 hurricane season.
Ashley Moody's Votes on FEMA, Disaster Aid and Emergency Alerts
- Moody Voted to Confirm Kristi Noem, Under Whom FEMA Lost a Sixth of Its Staff and Sat on Billions in Disaster Money. On January 25, 2025, Moody voted to confirm Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security, the department that runs FEMA. Under Noem, over 4,300 employees separated from FEMA in fiscal year 2025; she required that she personally signs off on all funding requests for more than $100,000, and by the end of 2025 FEMA was sitting on more than $15 billion in unspent funds. After the July 4, 2025 Texas Hill Country flood, FEMA answered just over 15,000 of the approximately 55,000 calls from survivors seeking help with housing and food. FEMA also ended its largest disaster-prevention grant program, Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities, in April 2025; On December 11, 2025, the judge issued a final ruling that the termination was unlawful, and FEMA reopened the program in 2026 under court order, with its new round closes July 23, 2026. Of the $990.6 million selected for fiscal 2023, $38.7 million (3.9%) had been obligated by March 29, 2026, so most projects chosen before the termination were still waiting.
- Moody Voted to Confirm Markwayne Mullin, Whose Department Denied a Record Number of Disaster Requests in 2026. On March 23, 2026, Moody voted to confirm Markwayne Mullin as Secretary of Homeland Security. By late August 2026 the Trump administration denied 22 requests for major disaster declarations that year, the most since at least 2000, the Texas Tribune reported. In May 2026 the FEMA Review Council recommended a higher damage threshold for federal disaster aid, under which, by the council's own calculation, there would have been 29% fewer federal disaster declarations from 2012 to 2025, a recommendation that has not been adopted.
- Moody Voted to Confirm Howard Lutnick, Whose Commerce Department Left the National Weather Service Short-Staffed. On February 18, 2025, Moody voted to confirm Howard Lutnick as Secretary of Commerce, which runs NOAA and the National Weather Service. In March 2025 weather-balloon launches were cut at several offices "due to a lack of Weather Forecast Office (WFO) staffing", and by spring 2026 the weather service's forecasters and hydrologists numbered about 300 fewer than it had been in late 2024. In July 2026 members of Congress wrote that staffing shortages still force weather offices to delay morning balloon launches or cancel them, and NOAA said it will no longer be updating the Billion Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters database.
- Moody Voted Against Affirming FEMA's Role in Disaster Relief in April 2025. On April 4, 2025, Moody voted no on Senator Alex Padilla's amendment creating a reserve fund supporting the continued, central role of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in disaster relief for survivors in every state. It failed 48-51. That spring the President said FEMA could be eliminated, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said "The President wants it eliminated as it currently exists". In fiscal 2025, over 4,300 employees separated from FEMA, about 17 percent of its staff, the Government Accountability Office found.
- Moody Voted Against Budget Measures Supporting Wildland Firefighters and Rehiring Fired Land-Agency Staff in February 2025. On February 20, 2025, Moody voted no on an amendment creating a reserve fund supporting Federal wildland firefighters or other Federal personnel who reduce wildfire risk, and the same day against an amendment to make room for reinstating fired Forest Service, Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management employees (roll call 68). Both failed 48-52. Internal data reported by ProPublica showed more than 4,500 Forest Service firefighting jobs, up to 27 percent, were vacant in July 2025; the Agriculture Department disputed the count.
- Moody Voted to Cut Funding for the Public Stations That Broadcast Emergency Alerts in July 2025. On July 16, 2025, Moody voted no on a motion to make sure no public station designated as a primary entry point in the Emergency Alert System would lose funding as a result of the rescissions, and the next day voted yes on the Rescissions Act, which ended federal funding for public broadcasting. In Tallahassee, WFSU, whose service includes political coverage and emergency storm reporting, said nearly two dozen positions across all departments will be eliminated after the federal money ended and the state vetoed its own public media funding; in Alaska, station KYUK, which carried warnings as ex-Typhoon Halong approached in 2025, has lost federal funding that was up to 70% of its budget.
What the FEMA, Weather Service and Emergency-Alert Cuts Ashley Moody Confirmed and Voted For Mean for Florida
- Disaster-prevention grants. When FEMA ended the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program, 22 counties that stood to benefit from nearly $250 million in grants in Florida lost the expected money, CBS News reported, and the Florida Division of Emergency Management told local governments that projects funded in phases would stop after the first phase: Phase II will not be awarded under BRIC. The program was restored by court order in 2026, but nationally only $38.7 million (3.9%) of fiscal 2023's selected money had been obligated by March 29, 2026.
- Hurricane forecasting. At the start of the 2025 hurricane season the National Weather Service's Tampa Bay office was 29% understaffed (seven of 24 positions, including their meteorologist-in-charge), and the Miami office 25% understaffed (six of 24 positions), according to the offices' own staff pages.
- Slower disaster aid. Floridians hit by storms face the national slowdown: in 2025 major disaster declarations came with an average wait of almost 34 days after a request, up from 24 days in Trump's first term, and the Associated Press noted that The delays mean individuals must wait to receive federal aid for daily living expenses.
Frequently Asked Questions About Ashley Moody on Disaster response
What is Ashley Moody's record on disaster response under Trump?
Ashley Moody voted to confirm Kristi Noem, under whom FEMA lost about 17 percent of its staff, held more than $15 billion in unspent funds and ended the disaster-prevention grants that 22 Florida counties were counting on until a court restored the program. She voted to confirm Markwayne Mullin, under whom the administration denied a record number of disaster requests in 2026, and Howard Lutnick, whose weather service entered the 2025 hurricane season short of forecasters in Tampa Bay and Miami. She also voted against a budget measure affirming FEMA's role. She voted for the Rescissions Act, which ended federal money for the public stations that broadcast emergency alerts.
How did Ashley Moody vote on FEMA?
Ashley Moody voted on April 4, 2025 against a budget reserve fund supporting the continued, central role of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in disaster relief (roll call 177), the same day FEMA announced the end of its disaster-prevention grants. The Congressional Research Service later found that FEMA had approved no hazard mitigation money for any new major disaster declaration since March 18, 2025.
What happened to FEMA's disaster-prevention grants in Florida under the officials Ashley Moody confirmed?
Under Kristi Noem, whom Ashley Moody voted to confirm, FEMA ended its Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program in April 2025 and said Fully obligated projects that have not started construction will not be approved; Florida's emergency management agency told communities Phase II will not be awarded under BRIC. A federal judge issued a final ruling against the termination in December 2025, and FEMA reopened the program in 2026 under court order.
Last updated: 2026-10-25