President Donald Trump has been taking longer to approve disaster aid and has denied a greater percentage of disaster requests than any president since 1989, according to an Associated Press analysis of data from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Disaster Aid Approval Times

On average, it has taken Trump a month and a half to approve major disaster declarations after receiving a request from a governor or chief executive of a state, territory, or tribe. This is longer than any other president, with Trump’s predecessors approving disaster requests in under two weeks.

Trump has approved about 65 requests for major disaster declarations and denied more than two dozen others from states, tribes, or territories seeking federal financial assistance following hurricanes, tornadoes, storms, floods, and fires.

Partisan Disparity in Disaster Aid

Trump has approved 80% of the disaster requests from Republican governors but only about 60% from Democratic governors. The discrepancy is even more apparent when analyzing major disaster declarations based on presidential elections, with Trump approving more than three-fourths of the requests from states that voted for him in the 2024 election but less than half the requests from states that did not.

A White House spokesperson said that there is no politicization to the President’s decisions on disaster relief, but the data suggests otherwise. The delays and denials come as Trump’s administration contemplates a makeover of FEMA, which administers disaster aid.

FEMA Nominee Pledges Faster Decisions

FEMA has had four different temporary leaders since Trump took office in January 2025. One of those, Cameron Hamilton, is awaiting Senate confirmation as the agency’s permanent director and has pledged to speed up disaster declaration decisions and reimbursements.

Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.