President Trump OK's Disaster Aid Funds

After Governor's phone call

President Trump has now approved federal disaster aid of various kinds for 39 Arkansas counties after the tornadoes, flooding, and storms that crossed the state between April 2 and 22, after Governor Sarah Sanders said she’d “had continued conversations with the Trump Administration and Secretary (Kristi) Noem about their plans to reform FEMA.” The Governor added she “look[s] forward to working with them to save money and get assistance directly in the hands of disaster victims.”

President Trump had earlier denied the Governor’s $40 million federal aid request for help after the March 15-16 storms.

FEMA’s action on the April request provides federal funds for Clark, Clay, Craighead, Crittenden, Desha, Fulton, Hot Spring, Jackson, Miller, Ouachita, Pulaski, Randolph, Saline, Sharp, St. Francis and White counties, including help such as grants to individuals for temporary housing/home repairs and low-interest loans to cover uninsured property losses.

Federal funding is also available for the April storms to eligible “local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the severe storms, tornadoes and flooding in Clark, Clay, Craighead, Cross, Dallas, Desha, Fulton, Greene, Hempstead, Hot Spring, Izard, Jackson, Lafayette, Lawrence, Lee, Little River, Lonoke, Marion, Miller, Monroe, Montgomery, Nevada, Newton, Pike, Poinsett, Prairie, Pulaski, Randolph, Saline, Scott, Searcy, Sevier, Sharp, St. Francis Stone and Woodruff counties.”

March Aid Request

On March 21, Governor Sanders had requested small business loans and aid for individuals in Greene, Hot Spring, Independence, Izard, Jackson, Lawrence, Randolph, Sharp and Stone counties after the March 14-15 tornado outbreak of 14 storms that left three dead. She cited damage exceeding $11.6 million, and amended the request on March 29 for a total of around $40 million.

After President Trump initially turned down the March request, all six of Arkansas' delegation in D.C. urged Trump to release the aid and, after a “productive” phone call with Sanders, FEMA released individual assistance but not public assistance on May 13.

Sanders announced last week that she will not appeal the March request again, and said the State would cover 35% of the cost to clean up and rebuild damaged infrastructure from the March storms and local governments would be responsible for the remainder. Her office had previously released $250,000 from the Governor’s Disaster Response and Recovery Fund on March 15.

Arkansas Reserve Funds

Meanwhile, since 2023, Arkansas has experienced an unprecedented frequency of disasters, with four federally declared disasters and ten state-declared disasters. Conservative Republican voters wonder about the state’s continued role in helping to fund storm repairs, given the scads of reserve funds denoted by Republican-majority lawmakers and the record budget surpluses the state has racked up for at least the last three full fiscal years. (The state's FY 2025 surplus, projected at $278.6 million, actually marks the lowest surplus in the past few years.)

In October 2023, Arkansas was holding about $1.52 billion in its Catastrophic Reserve Fund, which by law can be used only for specific projects approved by the Governor and the Legislature. Meanwhile, using $710 million from FY2023 surpluses, the General Assembly also created a new reserve fund, the Arkansas Reserve Fund Set-Aside. The most current report dated a year ago in May 2024 shows the state's total Restricted Reserve Fund Balance was $2,055,000,000.