Pete Ricketts on Disaster Response: His Deciding Vote Against Releasing FEMA Money, the Noem and Mullin Confirmations, and Weather Service Cuts

On April 23, 2026, Nebraska Senator Pete Ricketts voted against a budget measure to require FEMA to spend the money Congress had already appropriated for disaster recovery and hazard mitigation, and because it failed on a 49-49 tie, his vote decided it. At the time, internal documents showed that FEMA owes communities almost $10 billion. A year earlier, Ricketts had voted no on a measure affirming FEMA's role in disaster relief.

Ricketts 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, FEMA ended its main disaster-prevention grant program until a court ruled that unlawful, and by the end of 2025 FEMA was sitting on more than $15 billion in unspent funds. Under her successor, Markwayne Mullin, whom Ricketts also confirmed, the administration had denied 22 requests for major disaster declarations in 2026 by late August.

Pete Ricketts's Votes on FEMA, Disaster Aid and Emergency Alerts

• Ricketts Cast a Deciding Vote Against Requiring FEMA to Release Disaster Recovery Money in April 2026. On April 23, 2026, Pete Ricketts voted no on Senator Adam Schiff's amendment to the budget resolution creating a reserve fund for legislation requiring the obligation of amounts appropriated to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for public assistance and hazard mitigation. It failed 49-49, so a yes vote from Ricketts alone would have adopted it. At the time, FEMA owes communities almost $10 billion, according to internal agency documents, and the Congressional Research Service found that HMGP has not been approved for a new major disaster declaration since March 18, 2025, so communities hit by storms since then have received no new grants under that hazard mitigation program.
• Ricketts Voted Against Affirming FEMA's Role in Disaster Relief in April 2025. On April 4, 2025, Ricketts 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.
• Ricketts Voted Against Budget Measures Supporting Wildland Firefighters and Rehiring Fired Land-Agency Staff in February 2025. On February 20, 2025, Ricketts 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.
• Ricketts Voted to Cut Funding for the Public Stations That Broadcast Emergency Alerts in July 2025. On July 16, 2025, Ricketts 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 Bethel, Alaska, station KYUK, which carried warnings to villages as ex-Typhoon Halong approached in October 2025, has lost federal funding that was up to 70% of its budget.
• Ricketts 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, Ricketts 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; 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.
• Ricketts Voted to Confirm Markwayne Mullin, Whose Department Denied a Record Number of Disaster Requests in 2026. On March 23, 2026, Ricketts 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, and the recommendation has not been adopted.
• Ricketts Voted to Confirm Howard Lutnick, Whose Commerce Department Left the National Weather Service Short-Staffed. On February 18, 2025, Ricketts 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, North Platte among them, "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.

What the FEMA, Weather Service and Emergency-Alert Cuts Pete Ricketts Backed Mean for Nebraska

• Disaster prevention. In April 2025 the Region 51 Emergency Management office around North Platte was told there will be no Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grants this year for hazard mitigation (KNOP); FEMA reopened the program in 2026 only after a court issued a final ruling against the termination.
• Emergency alerts. Nebraska Public Media, which carries public safety and emergency alerts statewide, lost nearly $4 million a year when the rescission Ricketts voted for took effect.
• Weather forecasts (transient). In spring 2025 the Omaha office suspended balloon flights entirely, and North Platte cut to one launch a day; the suspension was because of a staff shortage and federal hiring freeze, and launches resumed at the end of April 2025 (WOWT).
• Slower disaster aid. Nebraskans hit by storms now 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. In 2026, Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen asked in mid-June for a federal disaster declaration after tornadoes, straight-line winds and flooding on May 15-18 hit eight Nebraska counties, and the approval came in the first week of August, the Nebraska Examiner reported.

Frequently Asked Questions About Pete Ricketts on Disaster response

Last updated: 2026-10-25

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