Just weeks ago, President Donald Trump said he wanted to begin “phasing out” the Federal Emergency Management Agency after this hurricane season to “wean off of FEMA” and “bring it down to the state level.

In the deadliest natural disaster since the Trump administration's layoffs and buyouts at federal forecasting offices, Texas officials are praising the president and deflecting questions about the possible effect of the cuts.

With the number of confirmed dead in the flooding disaster in Texas topping 100 people and rising, questions are being asked about what more could have been done to limit the death toll.