WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, legislative watchdog agency the Government Accountability Office (GAO), released a report previously requested by Senator Andy Kim (D-NJ) assessing the readiness of the federal workforce involved in the nation’s disaster response, including FEMA. As Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs’ subcommittee that includes oversight of FEMA, Senator Kim is highlighting GAO’s findings that recent workforce reductions at FEMA threaten to exacerbate staffing shortages and leave the agency underequipped to fulfill its mission to respond to disasters and support impacted communities. 

“As FEMA is being called to help communities through more and more disasters across the nation, the Trump administration has left the agency with fewer resources than ever. The staffing and resource gaps are damning and could cost lives,” said Senator Kim. “This report further confirms that we need serious reforms to our nation’s disaster response. The answer can’t be to rip help away from communities as Secretary Noem is trying to do but to bolster FEMA with the resources and support it needs to best succeed.” 

On June 30^th, Senator Kim sent a letter to GAO Comptroller General Dodaro,specifically requesting the GAO, “conduct a review of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) readiness for the 2025 hurricane season.” The letter cited the increasing frequency and intensity of natural disasters is creating significant concerns about FEMA’s capacity to prepare for and respond to these events. 

Key findings of the GAO’s “Disaster Assistance High-Risk Series: Federal Response Workforce Readiness” report include: 

• The lack of trained staff during concurrent disasters, including Hurricanes Milton and Helene and the fires around Los Angeles, created challenges to federal agencies responding to these disasters, including FEMA.  

• Workforce reductions at FEMA may impact future disaster response readiness. 

• The report specifically states: “Recent workforce reductions may exacerbate existing workforce challenges and impact federal agencies’ capacity to respond to future high-impact disasters.” 

• There have been increased incidents of disasters with less staff available. 

• There has been an increase from 495 open major disaster and emergency declarations in July 2022 to 710 in 2025. At the same time, according to FEMA operations briefs, the agency started the 2025 hurricane season on June 1 with just 12 percent of its incident management workforce available to respond to disasters—its lowest level in at least 4 years. 

• Due to staffing shortages, FEMA officials said the agency was forced to deploy staff to disaster response, including for Hurricane Helene, that had limited disaster expertise or training and do not normally work on disaster response. 

• Following Hurricanes Helene and Milton in November 2024, only four percent of FEMA’s incident management workforce was available to deploy. In addition, several incident management teams with critical responsibilities in early response had even lower availability. 

Read the full report online here. 

Senator Kim has remained committed to supporting and uplifting the importance of FEMA’s life-saving operations and in the wake of the Trump administration’s attacks on the agency, has worked to ensure FEMA has a qualified and experienced administrator leading its emergency and disaster response. In July, the Senatorsent two letters pressing Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem for answers on how FEMA is able to fulfill its mission on behalf of the American people. In a previous letter, Senator Kim also demanded Secretary Noem uphold her commitment to provide FEMA’s completed 2025 hurricane response plan. This came after a committee hearing in June where Senator Kim pressed on the critical need for this plan and the Department of Homeland Security’s central and critically important mission to respond to natural disasters. The Senator also has demanded the Trump administration reinstate FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program and not cancel critical grant funding it provides for local disaster mitigation.  

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