States urge court to block FEMA grant limits before year-end deadline

Source: Courthouse News Service

December 17, 2025


EUGENE, Ore. (CN) — A coalition of states opposing the Trump administration’s new limitations on Federal Emergency Management Act grants argued on Wednesday that the new terms should be blocked before the end-of-the-year deadline for the states to accept the awards. “Before the court is one of several cases from across the country addressing an effort by the Trump administration to sabotage FEMA and the emergency management and homeland security functions it provides, all pursuant to the administration’s stated goal of shifting these functions to the state,” argued Neil Giovanatti with the Michigan Department of Attorney General.

Twelve states sued the federal government in early November, claiming the new terms for FEMA grant programs create an “inconsistent patchwork of disaster response across the nation.” Both the Emergency Management Performance Grant program and the Homeland Security Grant Program formula grants provide federal funding to help states prepare for and respond to disasters.

New terms have placed an improper hold on funding for one and changed the schedule for using funds from both grants, the states argue. In the Emergency Management Performance Grant program, a new term places a hold on funding until a state provides FEMA with a certification of its population and an explanation of the methodology used to determine it.

Specifically, the federal government requires states to attest that their reported population “does not include individuals that have been removed from the state pursuant to the immigration laws of the United States.” Funding will be released only when the government approves the state’s methodology and population certification. The states argue this requirement violates the Administrative Procedure Act and that the government didn’t have the authority to impose the condition in the first place.

Read more: https://courthousenews.com/states-urge-court-to-block-fema-grant-limits-before-year-end-deadline/