Hey, this is Flora, and you are listening to Science Friday.

Hurricane season is approaching, and in the event of a big storm, local and state governments

often rely on help from FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

But President Trump has questioned the value of the agency.

So I've never been a big fan of FEMA.

I like to keep it local.

I like to see governors and neighboring states help each other as opposed to FEMA.

We've heard this about other federal agencies from this administration.

But FEMA is a special case.

The mistrust goes back to FEMA's founding in the late 1970s.

Micah Loinger, co-host of the show on the media, traced FEMA's history in a new series called American Emergency, the Movement to Kill FEMA.

Hey, Micah, what's up?

Hey, Flora.

Thanks for having me.

Thank you for being here.

So FEMA's in the news this week because after big cuts last year, the agency now says it wants to, quote, stabilize their workforce ahead of hurricane season and the World Cup.

So they've rehired some FEMA employees.

But tell us how we got here. How is the Trump

administration approached FEMA this term? Well, when Trump came into office last year,

his Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Christy Noem, really tried to set fire to the agency.

She instituted this really wild cost-cutting measure where she said,

I have to personally sign off on any expenditure that FEMA has over $100,000, which in the world

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