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FACT SHEET: Trump Administration Cuts To Forecasting, Readiness, Recovery, And Research Are Putting Lives In Pennsylvania At Risk

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Last Updated: 6/4/26

TRUMP’S CUTS TO EXTREME WEATHER DISASTER PREVENTION AND RECOVERY PROGRAMS HURT PENNSYLVANIANS

• Trump’s federal funding cuts threatened over $186 million in Weatherization Assistance Program Grants in Pennsylvania.
• Pennsylvania sued the Trump administration for slashing FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grants that help communities prepare for disasters like floods, storms, and wildfires.
  • Trump’s cuts jeopardized  67 projects in Pennsylvania, totaling $169 million.
    • Even GOP Rep. Rob Bresnahan introduced the Save the BRIC Act to protect the program from being eliminated.
  • BRIC would have funded dozens of hazard mitigation and disaster resilience projects in the Philadelphia region, including buying out flood-prone homes in the state.
  • Scranton was set to receive $2.5 million in funding from BRIC to acquire properties impacted by flooding.
  • Luzerne County’s Flood Protection Authority was planning to apply for funding to rehabilitate a levee in Duryea and create a new levee in Exeter before the program was cut.
  • FEMA cancelled a $5.3 million BRIC grant in Bridgeville that focused on flood prevention after a 2018 flood damaged over 120 homes and killed one person.  
  • In December 2025, a federal judge found FEMA’s actions were unlawful and ordered the reinstatement of BRIC. In March 2026, FEMA was forced to reopen program applications following an order requiring funding to be made available.
• In May 2026, Trump’s FEMA Review Council recommended raising the threshold for disasters to qualify for federal assistance and shifting more financial and administrative burden for recovery and preparedness onto states.
  • The Trump administration had previously proposed quadrupling the threshold to qualify for federal assistance, which would have prevented Pennsylvania from receiving FEMA funds for Hurricane Sandy in 2012, Hurricane Ida in 2021, Tropical Storm Debby in 2024, and countless severe winter storms.
    • Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency director Randy Padfield said proposed FEMA cuts could result in more aid requests being denied.

TRUMP’S GUTTING OF NOAA AND NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FUNDING IN PENNSYLVANIA THREATENS FORECAST ACCURACY AND TIMELINESS

• As of May 2025, the NWS office serving the Erie area, which is a flash flood hotspot, did not have a Meteorologist in Charge.
  • Meteorologists-in-charge had decades of experience and each captained a team of forecasters. They also managed relationships with local media and the local emergency management community, which were crucial external relationships.
• As of June 2025, the NWS Middle Atlantic River Forecast Center in State College did not have a Warning Coordination Meteorologist in place

TRUMP’S MOVE TO SLASH AND CONSOLIDATE THE U.S. FOREST SERVICE UNDERMINES WILDFIRE RESEARCH AND RESPONSE IN PENNSYLVANIA

• The Trump administration planned to close all four of Pennsylvania’s USFS research facilities in Irvine, Long Pond, Williamsport, and York.
  • Closing research facilities will drive scientists away from the sites they manage, resulting in data loss for scientists studying wildfire risk, drought, pests, and threats from climate change.
• Under the Trump administration’s reorganization, all regional USFS offices were slated for closure, including the Eastern regional office in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which served Pennsylvania and employed 200-300 people.
  • In Warren, Pennsylvania, the USFS will open a new “Mid‑Atlantic/New England State Office,” an office with just five to eight employees. The nearest “Operations Service Centers” will be in Athens, Georgia and Madison, Wisconsin.

RECENT EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS IN PENNSYLVANIA HAVE CAUSED DEATH AND DESTRUCTION, AND SUCH EVENTS WILL BECOME MORE FREQUENT AND MORE DEADLY WITH CLIMATE CHANGE

• Between 2010 and 2026, Pennsylvania saw 86 billion-dollar extreme disasters, totaling up to $50 billion in damages.
• Between January 2015 and October 2025, Pennsylvania received a total of $399,693,344 in FEMA Public Assistance and Individual & Household Program disaster assistance funding, responding to 5 disaster events.
  • In the past decade, Pennsylvania has received $2,010,973,024 in FEMA disaster assistance funding.
  • In PA-01, represented by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, there were 10 extreme weather disasters from 2011 to 2024. In that same period, the district received $64,974,274 in FEMA aid.
  • In PA-07, represented by Rep. Ryan MacKenzie, there were 11 extreme weather disasters from 2011 to 2024. In that same period, the district received $8,357,207 in FEMA aid.
  • In PA-08, represented by Rep. Rob Bresnahan, there were 14 extreme weather disasters from 2011 to 2024. In that same period, the district received $32,182,838 in FEMA aid.
  • In PA-10, represented by Rep. Scott Perry, there were 11 extreme weather disasters from 2011 to 2024. In that same period, the district received $42,109,970 in FEMA aid.
• A 2023 flood in Bucks County killed seven people, with the Bucks County Fire Chief saying he had never seen anything like it in his 44 years of service.
• In July 2020, Tropical Storm Fay dropped about 5 inches of rain across the Lehigh Valley, causing flooding that stranded drivers, damaged properties, and forced evacuations.

• Erie is the seventh-fastest-warming city in the nation, with the annual average temperature having risen 4.6°F since 1970. 
• In the last twenty years, Pennsylvania has witnessed three drought events, which caused a total of $64.3 billion in damages and 233 deaths. 
• In 2024, Bucks County experienced its worst drought in a generation, which caused brush fires and significantly reduced farmers’ yields.  
• Climate variability is reshaping wildfire risk in Pennsylvania, with drought conditions and increased weather variability making fires more common and less predictable.