In 2019, then-President Donald Trump took $155 million from the federal government’s main disaster fund and used it to build immigration facilities near the U.S.-Mexico border.

Now senior officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency are expressing concern that Trump could again redirect disaster resources after he takes office, but on a much larger scale. That could limit FEMA’s ability to help people and communities after major disasters, they say.

“But I am concerned that could happen, or that FEMA is given tasks to do things that are in support of immigration programs, whether it’s deportation or other aspects of immigration,” the agency’s chief of staff, Michael Coen, said in a rare interview.

“It could divert DRF funding from what members of Congress and the American people believe is its intended purpose,” Coen said, referring to FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund, which helps households and communities survive and rebuild.

“It would be demoralizing to the staff, who believe they’re there to support disaster survivors and mitigate against natural disasters,” he added.

Coen, who was appointed to his post in 2021 by President Joe Biden, spoke as he prepares to leave the agency, where he has worked under every Democratic president since Bill Clinton.

Other Biden appointees told POLITICO’s E&E News they fear that Trump will use FEMA’s disaster money and staff to fulfill his vows to deport millions of undocumented migrants. Although FEMA aid is supposed to be spent on natural disasters such as floods, wildfires and storms, previous presidents have used some of the money to help the nation recover from terrorist attacks.

President Jimmy Carter gave disaster aid to four South Florida counties in 1980 after a mass emigration of Cubans to the U.S. known as the Mariel boatlift.

FEMA has faced budget shortfalls for two years, forcing the agency to restrict disaster spending and to seek additional funding from a reluctant Congress. The agency was financially sound when Trump diverted FEMA funds for building the border facility. It had $26 billion in disaster reserves at the time.

Coen said his concerns are “general” and based on how the Trump administration had sought to use money from FEMA and other agencies for border activities.

“I don’t have anything specific. I haven’t heard anything,” Coen said.

Trump has not named a future FEMA administrator or said anything publicly about diverting disaster funds for immigration and border security. As a candidate this year, Trump inaccurately accused FEMA of diverting disaster funds to help secure the Southwest border.

He selected South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican, to be secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA and immigration agencies such as Customs and Border Protection. Noem gained national attention in 2021 for sending South Dakota National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border.

As part of Homeland Security, FEMA has handled a growing range of events unrelated to natural disasters. Biden put FEMA in charge of setting up coronavirus vaccination clinics nationwide. Congress directed FEMA to help set up shelters along the Southwest border with a special allotment of $650 million.

“I’m always concerned about mission creep and FEMA being given more problems to solve than what I think the American people think FEMA really should be doing,” Coen said. “The average person believes FEMA is there to help the country on its worst day and help disaster victims when they’re having their worst day.”

“But because FEMA is a problem-solver, FEMA was given the task at the beginning of this administration to set up the mass-vaccination clinics across the country, which vaccinated millions of people,” Coen said.

FEMA could ease its growing workload by responding to fewer routine natural disasters, Coen said.

“States probably need to take on more of the share of the response,” he said, noting that he supports increasing the cost threshold that FEMA uses to determine if an event has caused enough damage to merit disaster aid.

“Something needs to change, because it’s not sustainable the way it is,” Coen said.

House Republicans’ starting majority has now been cemented at 220 votes, with Democratic Rep.-elect Adam Gray formally ousting GOP Rep. John Duarte as of Tuesday night. That’s already an incredibly thin margin, but it’s going to get slimmer.

After some of President-elect Donald Trump’s expected nominees leave the House, Speaker Mike Johnson is expected to have literally no wiggle room, right as Republicans embark on an ambitious agenda to pass a sweeping party-line package on energy, immigration and defense policy within the first 30 days of the Trump administration. And they plan to follow that up with another partisan bill on taxes and other priorities.

If Johnson’s members leave before the votes on those bills, he wouldn’t be able to lose a single vote at full House attendance.

Let’s math: Start with the official 220-seat Republican and 215-seat Democratic majority. It’s already a mirage, because former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) has said he won’t return for the 119th Congress. So that drops to 219 GOP seats.

Then you have more swift exits coming. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) is expected to be quickly confirmed to be ambassador to the United Nations, dropping that to 218 Republican seats.

Ditto Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.), who’s joining Trump’s Cabinet in a role that does not require Senate confirmation. So make that 217 GOP-held seats.

There’s your actual margin: 217-215, Republicans hold the chamber. And remember, if it’s a tie vote, the legislation doesn’t pass — so Johnson can’t afford to lose a single Republican if Democrats unanimously oppose measures on the floor.

We looked previously at some of the possible blocs of headaches Johnson will face as he gets into the season of nuts and bolts legislating — with his and Trump’s agenda in the balance. Republicans are vowing strong unity this go around, but that’s going to be incredibly tough when just one House member can delay or derail legislation.

Rep. Jamie Raskin is quickly locking down support to take the top Democratic spot on Judiciary and could beat current ranking member Rep. Jerry Nadler.

“I just don’t see how Jerry pulls it out,” said one lawmaker on the House Judiciary Committee, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly.

Three additional people familiar with Raskin’s (D-Md.) support believe he will beat Nadler (D-N.Y.), though the senior Democrat is staying in the race.

“We’ll see what happens,” Nadler said Wednesday morning.

Raskin officially entered the race Monday, and said Tuesday evening that he was “working to get the votes.”

The mother of Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s embattled pick for Defense secretary, took to Fox News Wednesday morning to defend her son in her first public comments since it was reported that she once harshly confronted him in an email about his treatment of women.

“We really believe that he is not that man he was seven years ago. I’m not that mother and I hope people will hear that story today and the truth of that story,” Penelope Hegseth told “Fox & Friends” host Steve Doocy. “I am here to tell the truth. To tell the truth to the American people and tell the truth to senators on the hill, especially female senators. I really hope that you will not listen to the media and you will listen to Pete.”

Her plea also comes as Trump is considering nominating Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as Defense secretary instead, should Hegseth’s nomination not pan out, POLITICO reported late Tuesday night, though no decision has been made. Hegseth told reporters Wednesday morning that the president-elect told him to “keep fighting.”

Since being named Trump’s pick to lead the Pentagon, Hegseth’s treatment of women has been at the forefront. A police report from 2017 made public last month detailed allegations of sexual assault against Hegseth, which he denied. He has also faced criticism for saying women should not serve in active combat.

On Tuesday, NBC News reported that some of Hegseth’s colleagues at Fox News were concerned about his drinking habits, which a spokesperson for the Trump transition team told the outlet were “completely unfounded and false.”

A New Yorker article published Sunday detailed Pete Hegseth’s time at two nonprofit advocacy groups, where he ultimately stepped down “in the face of serious allegations of financial mismanagement, sexual impropriety, and personal misconduct.” A lawyer for Hegseth said in response that the claims were “outlandish” and were “laundered through The New Yorker by a petty and jealous disgruntled former associate of Mr. Hegseth’s.”

The New York Times published last week an email Penelope Hegseth sent her son in 2018 saying that he had “abused in some way” many women and telling him to take “an honest look at yourself.”

“I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around and uses women for his own power and ego,” she wrote in the email, according to the Times. “You are that man (and have been for years) and as your mother, it pains me and embarrasses me to say that, but it is the sad, sad truth.”

On Wednesday, she backtracked from her remarks in the email, saying that her son had been going through a “difficult” divorce at the time and that she wrote the email “in haste” and apologized for sending it within two hours.

When Doocy asked if the allegations against her son were hard to hear as a parent, she said she didn’t believe the accusations.

“I don’t believe any of that is true. Any of it,” she said, after mentioning her role as a parent is to “correct.” “I wouldn’t be sitting in this chair today if I didn’t believe that about my son.”

When pressed again on what specifically in her email was not true, Hegseth’s mother said “he doesn’t misuse women.”

“He’s been through difficult things, I’m not going to list them by name,” she said.

Penelope Hegseth added that her son is “a changed man,” and was adamant that “Trump knows Pete. And he knows the Pete of today.”

“Listen with your heart to the truth of Pete,” she said.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth is taking the unorthodox step of asking Donald Trump to wade into a legislative debate before he becomes president, urging him to support her proposal to expand coverage for in vitro fertilization for military personnel.

Duckworth, who serves on the Armed Services Committee, penned a letter to the president-elect, obtained by POLITICO, encouraging him to endorse provisions in the annual defense policy bill that would expand TRICARE coverage for IVF and other fertility services for military families.

Access to IVF became a hot-button issue during the 2024 campaign, following a ruling by Alabama’s Supreme Court this year that frozen embryos should be considered people. While Democrats sought to use the ruling against Republicans, Trump pledged on the campaign trail that insurance or the government would cover the cost of IVF.

Duckworth noted Trump’s promise and urged him to send “a clear and simple declaration of your support for preserving” the expanded coverage of IVF in a final version of the National Defense Authorization Act, which is still being negotiated by congressional leaders.

“He made a promise,” Duckworth said of Trump in an interview. “I was super excited when he made that campaign promise.”

Both House and Senate versions of the NDAA include provisions, adopted with bipartisan support, that would make IVF and other fertility coverage on par with what members of Congress and federal employees receive from government marketplaces.

Still, Duckworth raised the spectre that some Republicans could push to strip the provisions, writing to Trump that many GOP lawmakers “publicly dismissed your campaign promise” on IVF. The Illinois Democrat argues conservatives would undermine Trump’s agenda in doing so.

“As the leader of the Republican Party, it would be appropriate for you to exercise your influence to prevent Congressional Republicans from undermining your ability to govern by your own ‘promises made, promises kept’ motto before your second term even begins,” Duckworth wrote.

Trump’s transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Provisions included in both House and Senate bills, particularly with bipartisan support, are often seen as highly likely to be adopted in a compromise bill. Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) secured the IVF coverage proposal in the House-passed defense bill.

Some hard-right Republicans have opposed expanding IVF coverage, though. Republicans split on Trump’s call for full coverage of IVF costs during the campaign.

Conservative Reps. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) and Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.) wrote to leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services committees urging them to drop IVF-expansion provisions, arguing the treatment “leads to the destruction of innocent human life.” But it’s unclear if hard-right lawmakers will have much influence over a bill that needs bipartisan support to pass.

Negotiators are aiming to roll out a compromise version of the NDAA, which outlines the nearly $900 billion national defense budget and prescribes Pentagon policy, as early as this week as they seek to meet a year-end deadline to enact the bill.

Here’s what we’re watching in transition world today:

 🗓️ What we’re watching

• Defense secretary pick Pete Hegseth is still on the hot seat as more allegations against him continue to trickle in, this time via an NBC News report that his drinking habits have concerned fellow Fox employees “on more than a dozen occasions.” He’s meeting with more senators today and is expected to appear on Fox News.
• While Hegseth fights the nomination headwinds, President-elect Donald Trump is considering a new choice to run the Pentagon: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. 
• The Trump-Vance transition signed an agreement Tuesday with the Department of Justice allowing the transition team to “submit names for background checks and security clearances” after delaying the signing for weeks.

🚨What’s up with the nominees?

• Trump’s pick to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration abruptly withdrew his name from consideration just days after being chosen. Chad Chronister didn’t cite a reason for his withdrawal other than concluding he wanted to continue in his current role as a sheriff in Florida.
• Scott Bessent, Trump’s choice to run the Treasury Department, is planning to meet with incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Sen. John Barrasso later this week.

📝ICYMI: Here are the latest Cabinet picks 

• Trump has selected Stephen Feinberg to be his deputy Defense secretary, potentially putting a secretive billionaire financier with no experience in the agency into the Pentagon’s No. 2 job.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is weighing a bid for the top Democratic position on the Oversight Committee, she told reporters Tuesday.

“I’m interested,” she said in comments confirmed by a spokesperson.

The outspoken progressive could run for the spot if it’s vacated by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who’s mounting a challenge against Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) for the top Democratic position on the Judiciary Committee. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), who had run against Raskin for the job last Congress, declared his bid Tuesday. And Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) could also be in the mix.

It’s the latest salvo in House Democrats’ generational battle over the leadership of congressional committees.

Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.), the top Democrat on the Agriculture committee — who has been dogged by questions about his health and ability to lead the panel’s Democrats — faces a strong challenge from Reps. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) and Jim Costa (D-Calif.). And Rep. Jared Huffman is running to succeed Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who announced Monday he wouldn’t run again to lead the panel’s Democrats.

President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration abruptly withdrew his name from consideration on Tuesday just days after being chosen.

Chad Chronister said in a post on X that he made the decision “as the gravity of this very important responsibility set in,” but didn’t cite a reason for his withdrawal other than concluding he wanted to continue in his current role as a sheriff in Florida.

“There is more work to be done for the citizens of Hillsborough County and a lot of initiatives I am committed to fulfilling,” he said. “I sincerely appreciate the nomination, outpouring of support by the American people, and look forward to continuing my service as Sheriff of Hillsborough County.”

Chronister was initially appointed to his job as county sheriff by then-Florida Gov. Rick Scott in 2017, before successfully running for election to the role. He also overlapped in the office with Pam Bondi, Trump’s pick for attorney general, when she was a state prosecutor. Trump said in a post on Truth Social Saturday, when he announced his selection, that Chronister would “secure the Border, stop the flow of Fentanyl, and other Illegal Drugs, across the Southern Border, and SAVE LIVES.”

Chronister drew criticism from some conservatives, including Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), over his actions during the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2020, his office arrested a Tampa pastor for violating quarantine orders to hold services. Charges against the pastor were ultimately dropped.

“I’m going to call ‘em like I see ’em. Trump’s nominee for head of DEA should be disqualified for ordering the arrest a pastor who defied COVID lockdowns,” Massie, a member of the House Judiciary and House Rules Committees, posted on Xon Sunday.

Chronister’s crime fighting approach as sheriff of a purple county also hasn’t necessarily fallen in line with conservative orthodoxy.

“When I stepped into my role as Hillsborough County Sheriff, I knew that as a law enforcement agency, we could not arrest our way out of problems like drug addiction and mental health issues in our community,” Chronister said in 2021. “We had to take a holistic approach in order to reduce recidivism.”

But Gov. Ron DeSantis, who’d been a vocal critic of Covid lockdowns, publicly backed Chronister’s nomination. He specifically cited a decision he made in 2022, when Chronister stood beside him as he ousted a left-leaning prosecutor, Andrew Warren.

Asked for comment about Chronister’s withdrawal, Trump transition spokesperson Brian Hughes said the sheriff’s statement spoke for itself.