This year, Wisconsin has been hammered by one extreme weather event after another, from fires to floods to extreme heat. Wildfires, hurricanes, and floods are becoming more frequent, severe, and expensive—raising home insurance rates, forcing massive taxpayer-funded disaster aid spending, and disrupting communities across the country.
Yet instead of protecting Wisconsinites, the Trump administration just denied the state’s urgent request for additional FEMA aid to help recover from summer floods. Trump and Republicans are already cutting clean energy projects, raising utility bills for Wisconsinites, and fueling a government shutdown— leaving the state dangerously unprepared for extreme weather events only makes us more vulnerable.
From flooding to extreme heat, tornadoes, and wildfire smoke, extreme weather has battered Wisconsin this year. These once-in-a-generation events are happening more and more frequently.
- Recent polling shows that Americans are worried about the personal financial impacts of extreme weather on their pocketbooks. 59% are concerned that extreme weather disasters will increase their property insurance premiums, and 55% are concerned that the impacts could mean higher energy costs.
Wisconsinites are at risk thanks to Trump slashing disaster relief.
- The Trump Administration recently denied FEMA aid for $26.5 million in public assistance for communities impacted by summer flooding. The burden of these cuts will be felt by residents who are likely to face higher property taxes as a result.
- Trump’s cuts have left local weather forecasting offices dangerously understaffed, threatening the accuracy of the forecasting data used in lifesaving extreme weather alerts that communities rely on. Trump has also gutted critical disaster preparedness aid, leaving states without funding and resources they depend on to prepare for extreme weather events.
- Trump cut disaster-response training for local and state emergency managers and eliminated door-to-door canvassing in disaster areas by federal relief workers. The US Forest Service has lost 15% of its workforce, jeopardizing its firefighting efforts and making local communities less prepared for disasters.
- Trump has politicized and withheld disaster relief, and plans to make it harder for communities to qualify for federal aid. He’s even threatened to eliminate federal disaster relief entirely, despite state and local officials saying they would be unable to make up the funds if federal aid were eliminated.
- During this government shutdown, Trump’s FEMA could furlough nearly 4,000 employees, around 16% of its workforce. Millions of Americans could lose their flood insurance coverage under the National Flood Insurance Program. While Wisconsinites are facing extreme weather, energy costs are on the rise as clean energy investments are disappearing.
- President Trump campaigned on lowering costs, but since he took office in January, utility rates have increased by as much as $384 per year for some Wisconsin families.
- In April, Trump laid off the entire staff of a critical federal program that helps low-income Americans pay their heating and cooling bills—putting the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program(LIHEAP) program and its funding in jeopardy. In fiscal year 2023, Wisconsin received more than $164 million in LIHEAP funding, which served 189,941 households.
- Nationally, more than 80,000 jobs have already been lost or stalled in the clean energy sector since Trump’s election.
Extreme weather puts Wisconsinites at risk and drives up costs beyond what families can afford—leading to property damage, increased energy costs, higher home insurance rates, and less affordable housing. Trump’s cuts are leaving Wisconsin without the necessary funding and support to prepare for worsening extreme weather events.