‘I’m not sure that some of the way the bureaucracy is operating is consistent with his vision.’
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With Hurricane Isaias closing in on Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis is lowering expectations for how quickly the federal government may repay Florida for costs incurred due to the storm.
The problem, he said at an emergency operations briefing in Tallahassee, isn’t with Donald Trump. DeSantis called Trump “amazing” and said he expects him to approve a “pre-landfall declaration.”
Rather, it’s with a “slow” federal bureaucracy at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
“I think the President wants people to get it done. I think the senior people at DHS have been really good to work with … but some of it, I think, has gone a little slow,” DeSantis said.
He attributed the delays to “a clear disconnect between the President and his people at DHS — who I think have been very helpful on these things — and the guts of the bureaucracy.”
“We’re working through that obviously on a number of different fronts involving DHS, and hopefully we can get all this to come in for a good landing. I know that’s what the President wants for sure. … But I’m not sure that some of the way the bureaucracy is operating is consistent with his vision.”
Storm repayment has been a gradual process, taking years from the original impacts to fully make the state whole.
The Division of Emergency Management (DEM) told the Joint Legislative Budget Commission last month that nearly $2.1 billion was still owed to the state for Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
Localities are still seeking reimbursement for various storms.
Florida has struggled to get money back from the federal government beyond storms. Recompense for costs incurred detaining people in the country illegally at Alligator Alcatraz in South Florida has been slow.
DEM reported last month that the state had gotten $84.5 million of the $608 million of operations costs approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Construction costs will not be covered by the federal government for the site erected last year and torn down earlier in 2026.
DeSantis’ messaging has shifted at various times regarding FEMA. Last year, amid speculation that its mission could change, the Governor said that if the federal government were to “get out of disaster management and just say the states must fend for themselves,” then Florida’s “big surplus” would carry the state through.
He also said last year that he didn’t expect the Trump administration to do as much for Florida as Joe Biden’s White House did, saying that the Democratic White House “bent over backwards” to fund debris cleanup.
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