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FEMA meeting canceled after Tampa mayor traveled to Washington

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Published  December 11, 2025 4:48pm EST
Tampa
FOX 13 News

The Brief

    • A meeting of a special FEMA group that is set to overhaul the disaster relief agency was abruptly canceled.
    • Tampa's mayor flew to Washington for the meeting.
    • The 12-member FEMA Review Council was set to vote on a series of recommendations that could have drastically changed the way FEMA helps after catastrophic storms.
    • Some members of the board itself weren't even made aware of why the meeting was canceled at the last second.

WASHINGTON, DC - Tampa Mayor Jane Castor flew to Washington for a meeting of a special FEMA group that was set to overhaul the disaster relief agency. However, the meeting was abruptly canceled. 

What we know:

The FEMA Review Council was set to approve a report that sources say called for several changes, like:

  • Cutting the number of workers in the agency in half.
  • Creating a block grant system that is intended to streamline the assistance process.
  • Keeping the agency in-tact, while labeling it FEMA 2.0.

Sources tell FOX 13 the report says: "It is time to close the chapter on FEMA. A new agency should be established that retains the core missions of FEMA, while highlighting the renewed emphasis on locally executed, state or tribally managed, and federally supported emergency management."

Those who are critical of the potential changes say the cancellation is a sign of mismanagement that FEMA itself can't afford.

"This is a catastrophic rollout to a catastrophic political leadership of DHS and FEMA," said Raphael Lemaitre, a member of a group called, "Sabotaging our Safety," which opposes the proposed changes to FEMA. "It really shows how they're fa they're facing immense blowback from Congress and from probably states and emergency managers across the country who are looking at this the leaked details of this report and seeing that this is not a feasible way to protect the United States against disasters."

The backstory:

Three Floridians serve on the board, including Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, Florida's DEM director Kevin Guthrie, and Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz.

It is not clear as to why the meeting was canceled.       

It had been scheduled for 1PM Thursday, with a press conference for its members scheduled for 3:30PM.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem left a public hearing on Capitol Hill, saying she had to attend the FEMA meeting, which wound up not happening.

What's next:

FEMA referred questions about why the meeting was canceled to the White House.

The White House has not yet responded.

FEMA did say they will apprise the public of a new date.

The Source: Information gathered by FOX 13's Evan Axelbank.

Tampa