Well, howdy there, Internet people, it's fell again.

So today, we're going to talk about FEMA, NWS, Reliability, and Governors Speaking Out.

A number of governors are raising questions about the reliability of FEMA under the Trump administration in the controversial aftermath of

the response in Texas. It's important to understand the civics part of this first. The president,

and only the president, has the authority to issue a major disaster declaration. There have been

delays in getting the declarations, and this,

combined with the effects of Trump's cuts and a perceived lack of capability among critical

national infrastructure due to short staffing, is leading to governors noting a few issues of concern.

The first issue is Trump not issuing declarations or denying them. Since February, Trump has denied more than half of major disaster

declaration requests from Blue State governors. He's approved almost all of those coming from Republican governors,

but that doesn't mean they're happy either. West Virginia dealt with deadly flooding last month,

but is still waiting for a declaration. The governor recently said, quote,

We've been following up with them, and we're going to continue to do so.

I'm going to get back to the office and launch another call there, because we're going to push.

The governor there is a Republican.

Declarations aren't something governors traditionally have to push for. After tornadoes ripped

through Arkansas, the Republican governor there was initially denied and had to appeal before

getting help. Despite campaigning on FEMA relief in North Carolina, the administration denied their requests for additional help.

The governor of Kentucky, Andy Bashir, publicly aired his concerns. States get extra resources from

FEMA during and after a disaster. They at least most times get access to specially trained search and rescue teams.

They get access to more helicopters and things like that.

Bashir said, quote, if cuts to FEMA take away that ability, then our people are going to be less

...