The coalition of unions, nonprofit groups, and local governments that filed a supplemental complaint last month challenging the Trump administration’s unlawful and drastic reduction of staff at the Federal Emergency Management Agency filed a temporary restraining order Feb. 10 asking the court for emergency relief to stop the agency from restarting its plan to disseminate FEMA’s workforce.
Although the Department of Homeland Security briefly paused these actions during late January’s severe winter storm, the plaintiffs believe the agency intends to imminently resume the cuts. Plaintiffs’ emergency request seeks not only to halt any new reductions, but also to undo all unlawful workforce cuts carried out since Jan. 1.
If allowed to move forward, DHS’s plan would severely weaken FEMA’s ability to respond to disasters, putting communities across the country at risk and undermining the mission Congress created FEMA to carry out.
Plaintiffs in the case are the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the City and County of San Francisco, California; Santa Clara County, California; the City of Chicago, Illinois; the City of Baltimore, Maryland; Harris County, Texas; and King County, Washington.
The coalition is represented by Altshuler Berzon LLP, Democracy Forward, Democracy Defenders Fund, Protect Democracy, and the Public Rights Project.
In a related move, House Homeland Security Ranking Member Bennie Thompson and Emergency Management and Technology Subcommittee Ranking Member Tim Kennedy introduced a resolution Feb. 4 condemning any workforce cuts at FEMA.
“FEMA’s workforce comes to the aid of Americans at their most vulnerable – after disasters have upended their lives,” said Thompson, D-Miss. “At a time when communities across the country are facing increasingly devastating disasters, it is beyond reckless to consider staffing cuts.”
AFGE National President Everett Kelley thanked lawmakers for introducing and cosponsoring the resolution, saying that cutting FEMA staff would “jeopardize disaster preparedness, response, and recovery, threaten public safety, and undermine the dedicated federal employees who protect communities across the nation before, during, and after disasters.”
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