Fires, hurricanes, tornados, floods, blizzards and other disasters are becoming more intense and frequent. In 2024, the US experienced 27 separate billion-dollar climate and weather disasters for a total cost of $182.7 billion. Since 2016, the 5-year average cost of all disasters has more than doubled. Consequently, bipartisan interest in more effective government action to mitigate the damage and aid impacted Americans is growing.  

Current approaches to disaster mitigation and relief are extremely complicated and pose real barriers to recovery. Just at the federal level, dozens of agencies, programs, and departments must coordinate a response through 5 mission areas and 32 core capabilities. The many different relief programs for those affected, often requiring unique applications for aid, can further burden Americans working to rebuild their lives after a disaster. While investments to prepare and shield communities from the worst impacts of disasters are commonly made by states, the federal government pays for most recovery and rebuilding efforts, which allows states to avoid the costs of poor preparation. 

Proposals include:

• Encourage Mitigation—Encourage better mitigation of disaster damage by reimbursing a larger share of disaster costs in states who invest in disaster resiliency and prevention
• Reform FEMA—Standardize disaster relief applications for citizens, grant the agency greater authority to quickly deliver resources to disaster victims, and return FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) to its status as an independent agency
• Improve Federal Reinsurance—Prevent further property insurance losses in disaster-prone areas by absorbing portions of the catastrophic risk that private insurance companies currently hold

*Note: We placed this issue 12th because it came up fairly late in our process, so we haven’t received enough ratings yet to have a stable average.