Trump issues disaster declarations for Alaska and other states but denies Illinois and Maryland

President Donald Trump on Wednesday evening approved major disaster declarations for Alaska, Nebraska, North Dakota and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, while rejecting requests from Vermont, Illinois and Maryland and leaving other states still awaiting answers.

The decisions fell mostly along party lines, with Trump touting on social media Wednesday that he had “won BIG” in Alaska in the last three presidential elections and that it was his “honor” to act for the “amazing Patriots” in Missouri, a state he also won three times.

Disaster declarations authorize the Federal Emergency Management Agency to support recipients with federal financial assistance to repair public infrastructure damaged by disasters and, in some cases, provide money to survivors for repairs and temporary housing.

Although Trump has approved more disaster declarations than he has denied this year, he has also repeatedly floated the idea of ​​a “phasing out” of FEMA, saying he wants states to take more responsibility for disaster response and recovery. States are already on the front lines when disaster strikes, but rely on federal aid when needs exceed what they can handle on their own.

Trump also took longer to approve disaster declaration requests than in any previous administration, including the first, according to an Associated Press analysis.

States approved for disaster declarations include Alaska, which filed an expedited application after suffering back-to-back storms this month that destroyed coastal villages, displaced 2,000 residents and killed at least one person. Trump approved 100% sharing of disaster spending for 90 days.

North Dakota and Nebraska will also receive public assistance to deal with severe weather in August, and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota received approval for public and individual assistance for a June storm that downed thousands of trees on its tribal lands.

Trump rejected four requests, including Maryland’s call for reconsideration after the state was denied a disaster declaration for May flooding that severely affected the state’s two westernmost counties.

Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, denounced the decision in a statement Thursday, calling the final denial “deeply frustrating.”

“President Trump and his administration have politicized disaster relief, and it is our communities who will pay the price,” Moore said. The state itself supported those affected, deploying more than $450,000 from its National Disaster Reconstruction Fund for the first time.

Maryland qualified for public assistance, according to a preliminary damage assessment, but Trump, who has final decision on the declarations, rejected the state’s request in July. Maryland appealed in August with additional data showing counties suffered $33.7 million in damages, according to the state, more than three times the threshold for federal aid.

Trump also denied Vermont a major disaster declaration for the July 10 flooding after the state waited more than nine weeks for a decision. The damage far exceeds what some of the affected small towns can afford on their own, said Eric Forand, Vermont’s emergency management director.

“It’s way beyond (some cities’) annual budget or two-year budget to fix these roads,” Forand said.

Other denials included an individual aid request from Illinois for three counties hit in July by severe storms and flooding, and a request from Alaska to rebuild a public safety building that burned in an electrical fire in July.

When asked why states were denied, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said, “President Trump provides greater review of disaster declaration requests than any administration before him.” She said Trump was “ensuring that American taxpayer dollars are used appropriately and effectively by states to supplement – ​​not substitute – their obligation to respond to and recover from disasters.”

Several states and one tribe are still awaiting decisions on their requests.

Not knowing whether public aid will arrive can delay crucial projects, especially for small jurisdictions with tight budgets, and sometimes leaves survivors without any help obtaining temporary housing or repairing homes now too dangerous to live in.

Before its approval Wednesday, the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe was working to cover costs related to felling thousands of trees downed on its reservation by a June storm. As a tribe, they have the right to seek help regardless of what state they are in.

So far, the tribe has spent about $1.5 million of its own funds, said Duane Oothoudt, emergency operations manager for the Leech Lake Police Department.

The tribe was “doing a lot of juggling, using reserve funds to operate and continue to pay our contractors,” Oothoudt said just hours before being informed of the disaster declaration, nine weeks after submitting the application.

With federal funding approved for public and individual assistance, Oothoudt said Thursday its unique emergency management department will focus first on helping survivors.

“There’s a lot of work to do,” he said. “People were injured by the storm. »

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Associated Press writer Brian Witte in Annapolis, Maryland, contributed.