At a May 20 event in Brunswick County, Michael Whatley, the Republican nominee for the US Senate, was asked by an attendee about abolishing the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The moment was captured in an audio recording that you can listen to here.
“Can we get rid of FEMA?” a woman is heard asking Whatley.
“I’ve suggested the president do that,” Whatley says in response.
The comments came as Whatley was serving as the White House-appointed recovery czar for western North Carolina—a position created to help coordinate the region’s recovery while relying in part on federal disaster assistance programs administered through FEMA.
FEMA works in three phases: assisting communities in disaster awareness before a storm, providing support during a disaster, and helping communities and individuals affected by a disaster after it has passed.
In the recording, Whatley says he supports providing block grants to states, and suggests creating an Office of Disaster Management that would fall under the secretary of Homeland Security, currently Markwayne Mullin.
Whatley’s role in disaster recovery
Within days of returning to office in January 2025, President Trump visited western North Carolina just four months after Hurricane Helene ravaged the region, claiming at least 107 lives and inflicting around $60 billion in damage.
During this visit, Trump was accompanied by Whatley and gave the then-co-chair of the Republican National Committee a prominent role in overseeing Helene recovery.
“He walks up to them and goes, ‘I want to let you all know I’ve just named Michael Whatley as the hurricane recovery czar for western North Carolina,’” Whatley remembered Trump telling a group of reporters.
To date, North Carolina has received just 12-14% of the funds needed to complete western North Carolina’s recovery.
In addition, all federal funding provided to western North Carolina for Helene recovery was part of a $100 billion disaster relief bill passed at the end of the Biden administration in 2024.
Former Gov. Roy Cooper, Whatley’s Democratic opponent in this year’s election, criticized Whatley for failing to persuade the administration to deliver more funding for Helene recovery.
“To have a supplemental appropriations bill proposed by this administration with zero money for Hurricane Helene? That’s awful,” Cooper said at an Asheville appearance in June. “I’m concerned that the western North Carolina federal recovery czar, Michael Whatley, who was appointed by this president, is not saying anything about it, has not convinced this administration that Helene recovery needs to be in it.”
