By Annie Grayer, CNN

(CNN) — A developing Trump administration plan for deep staff cuts and drastic changes at the Federal Emergency Management Agency is raising alarm among some state officials and even Republican lawmakers, who worry that it will weaken responses to future disasters.

Republicans have had trouble getting details of the administration’s plan, even as President Donald Trump has made clear his desire to eliminate the agency. He and Elon Musk have argued that it’s ineffective and inefficient, pointing to recent incidents where the agency has come under fire. Department of Government Efficiency personnel have been inside FEMA offices, meeting with agency staff and reviewing FEMA files, according to multiple sources. Trump has also created a FEMA Review Council to recommend changes to the agency.

In recent days, senior officials in a key office at FEMA were given a stark mandate to submit for firing a list that includes “anyone who worked or works on climate, environmental justice, equity, DEIA,” according to a copy of the email shared with CNN.

“I understand this will impact the majority of our staff” the email sent to senior officials in the resiliency office at FEMA read. “I know that this feels like a shock to many of you and is an exceedingly difficult task.”

FEMA is just the latest agency on DOGE’s chopping block – the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau headquarters has been shut down, orders to terminate the Department of Education have been drafted and the US Agency for International Development has had its aid work around the world largely brought to a standstill.

The request for cuts at FEMA comes at a time when the agency is activated around the clock, as the US is battered by year-round disasters ranging from winter wildfires to spring thunderstorms producing dangerous amounts of hail. Hurricane season used to be the agency’s biggest concern, former FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told CNN recently, but now the agency is responding to increasingly frequent climate change-fueled disasters.

The Trump administration’s future blueprint for FEMA has been tightly held and Republicans pressing for specifics have gotten very few details back. Through backchanneling with the administration, some Republican lawmakers say their understanding is that states would get block grants approved by the president directly. Proponents say this plan cuts out bureaucracy and that states know what’s best for their communities.

But cutting the agency entirely could overburden many states who would have to mobilize recovery resources and personnel on their own. The head of the National Emergency Management Association, which represents state emergency management agencies, has been trying without success to get a seat at the table with DOGE to make her case.

“There’s certainly room for improvements in FEMA,” president of the National Emergency Management Association, Lynn Budd, told CNN. “The states right now are not prepared to take on all of the tasks that FEMA does for us.”

Steep cuts could also hamper climate resilience efforts, a type of work with some Republican support. In 2023, FEMA’s resilience office got a $3 billion funding boost from President Joe Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure law, for projects like strengthening the local electric grid in hurricane-prone Louisiana, updating water mains to cope with flooding, and elevating homes.

Eliminating the agency could be a red line for some Republicans, particularly from those who represent areas prone to natural disasters. At the very least, many told CNN they have been pushing to get more details from Trump and Musk about the plans for the fate of the agency.

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas told CNN, “FEMA provides critically important role in disaster recovery.”

Although the senator criticized the agency’s programs to house undocumented migrants Cruz said, “I feel confident the president knows full well the importance of FEMA and responding to a disaster.”

Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, whose state is still recovering from Hurricane Helene and regularly faces natural disasters, told CNN he has been making the case to the administration the importance of reforming FEMA rather than cutting it.

“If it’s with an eye towards more efficiency and resiliency, great. If it’s an eye towards cutting funding to western North Carolina, not great,” said Tillis, who has been working on reforming FEMA for years. (North Carolina Democratic Gov. Josh Stein on Thursday requested $19 billion in federal aid for Helene recovery.)

And Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana told CNN that the emergency services that the federal agency provides is critical and cannot be discarded.

“Whether FEMA exists or not, there needs to be an agency that provides emergency management services when catastrophes are too big for the state and local community to handle,” he said. “Could there be reforms in FEMA? Absolutely.”

Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz of Florida, who was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to be Florida’s director of emergency management in 2019, told CNN he supports Trump’s commission to review FEMA and cut out bureaucracy. Moskowitz has proposed legislation to remove FEMA from under the Department of Homeland Security and instead report to the White House.

Yet, Moskowitz said, “Eliminating FEMA is not the solution to its challenges and will disproportionally hurt rural or poor communities.”

But there are some Republicans, even those whose districts are still recovering from the devastation left by recent natural disasters, who believe that the agency could be cut down to an unrecognizable size – simply to send money to states that need it.

“You probably would need two people” GOP Rep. Rick Allen of Georgia told CNN of what the future of FEMA could look like. “A director and somebody to run the computer, probably a young person and say, ‘OK boom,’ check goes out.”

CNN’s Ella Nilsen contributed to this report.

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