FEMA director tells states they're on their own for disasters Play

The Trump administration's FEMA director told state officials Monday they're on their own for natural disasters — no more FEMA money. The feds cannot be counted on to help states that suffer from hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, or El Niño coastal flooding anymore. States need to increase their financial reserves and their emergency capabilities.

That's what FEMA's Cameron Hamilton said at a conference in Little Rock, Arkansas Monday. It was closed to the press, but somebody recorded it and gave a copy to Politico. The Trump administration plans to launch "National Mutual Aid," where states help each other recover from damaging storms, floods, wildfires, and other disasters.

The Trump administration is sitting on over a billion and a half dollars in reimbursement claims from California from the recent wildfires in Los Angeles. California has also got a bill into the federal government for $460 million that was promised by the federal government to pay for COVID-19 hospital and medical expenses.

The city of Malibu put out $16 million in emergency response efforts for the Palisades fire. The city of Malibu, like all cities in California, has been stiffed by the federal government on that as well.