Trump denied disaster aid to four Democratic-led states after FEMA and NOAA confirmed they qualified

On July 2, 2026, President Trump denied requests from Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Rhode Island for a FEMA major disaster declaration covering a late-February blizzard that set snowfall records across the Northeast, even though FEMA and NOAA regional offices had already verified that all four states exceeded the damage thresholds required for approval. The four states had sought a combined $227 million in federal aid; each governor's request cited FEMA-validated damage figures ranging from roughly $19 million in Rhode Island to $84 million in New Jersey — in every case several times the state's federal cost threshold. According to emails and more than 150 pages of documents obtained by POLITICO through public-records requests, a former FEMA official said they could not recall another instance of a declaration being denied after a state had met the agency's own standards.

Presidents hold sole statutory discretion under the Stafford Act to approve or deny major disaster declarations, but POLITICO's review of agency records dating to the George W. Bush administration found every prior president approved snow-related disaster requests that met FEMA's standards, with one exception involving a state under active investigation for misusing prior FEMA funds. The White House disputed that political alignment played a role; spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement that "there is no politicization to the President's decisions on disaster relief" and that Trump conducts a more thorough review than his predecessors. But POLITICO's broader analysis found Trump has approved about 89% of disaster declaration requests from Republican-led states in his second term compared with roughly 23% from Democratic-led states, and the Associated Press separately found no other president has shown such a partisan gap in disaster-declaration decisions in data dating to 1989.

Governors in all four states publicly condemned the denials. Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee called it "another case of the White House putting politics ahead of people." New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said the state "exceeded both the financial damages and snowfall thresholds necessary" for approval, and Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said she was "deeply disappointed." The states' congressional delegations said Trump separately announced $846 million in disaster relief for Republican-led states the same day he denied their requests.

Updates

2026-07-31 — Massachusetts and New York governors formally appealed the denials [5, 6]

Govs. Maura Healey and Kathy Hochul each filed formal appeals in late July 2026 urging Trump to reverse the denials. Hochul's letter, invoking the Stafford Act and FEMA's own regulations, called the denial "arbitrary" and said New York's damage assessment exceeded the statewide threshold by more than twofold; Healey's appeal cited FEMA's validated $45 million damage figure for Massachusetts against a $13.6 million threshold. Both appeals remained pending as of this writing.

2026-07-07 — Rhode Island governor vowed to appeal the denial [8, 9]

Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee vowed to appeal FEMA's denial of the state's $19 million request, calling it "another case of the White House putting politics ahead of people" [8], and Rhode Island proceeded with its formal appeal in the weeks that followed [9]. The appeal remained pending as of this writing.

2026-07 — New Jersey governor's office also confirmed it would appeal the denial [7]

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill's office confirmed the state would appeal Trump's denial of its $84 million request, with a spokesperson saying the state would "fight for every dime that New Jerseyans are owed, regardless of political party" [7]. The appeal remained pending as of this writing.

2026-09-01 — Trump approved disaster aid for seven Republican-led states in a single afternoon [10, 11]

President Trump used a series of Truth Social posts over roughly an hour to announce disaster relief he had just approved for seven Republican-led states: $50.5 million for Texas, $20 million for Kansas, $9.1 million for Kentucky, $5 million for Iowa, $19.9 million for Missouri, and $3.4 million each for North Dakota and South Dakota. Each post paired the funding announcement with an explicit endorsement of a Republican candidate on that state's ballot this year — including Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton, Kentucky Senate candidate Andy Barr, Iowa Senate candidate Ashley Hinson, Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall, and South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden — continuing the pattern this entry documents of faster, more frequent aid to Republican-led states than the roughly 23% approval rate for Democratic-led state requests.

2026-09-03 — Trump denied New Jersey and New York's appeals, blocking a combined $252 million [12, 13]

FEMA denied New Jersey's and New York's formal appeals of the original July 2026 disaster-declaration denials, leaving both states without a combined $252 million in aid they had sought for the February blizzard — $84 million for New Jersey and $168 million for New York. New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said Trump "is using the federal government to punish those he sees as his political enemies," and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said the state met "every FEMA threshold for federal assistance." White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis again denied any politicization, saying both states "had the fiscal and operational means" to respond to the storms without federal help.