The Trump Administration’s cruel and arbitrary assault on the institutions that protect the American people from the ravages of climate change continue. This demands a vigorous response from all concerned citizens.

When climate-fueled disaster strikes—and it’s more than a state or locality can handle—FEMA’s disaster relief fund helps support state and local recovery efforts, provide emergency payments to individuals, and set up recovery centers with important resources for survivors. Since 2011, FEMA has provided aid to every state and all but a few hundred counties. That means 94% of Americans live in a county that has received support.

With temperatures rising and severe weather events becoming increasingly frequent, FEMA’s work matters now more than ever.

In President Trump’s fact-free reality, however, the agency “has not done [its] job in the last four years.” Even as FEMA’s employees worked around the clock to aid victims of Hurricane Helene, he accused FEMA, without evidence, of being biased against Republicans and using disaster relief money to fund immigrant housing. Both claims were false, but his followers believed them and gave Trump some public support for dismantling the agency altogether. He recently signed an executive order requiring a full review of FEMA’s recent operations and capriciously fired hundreds of employees.

While experts agree that the country’s current disaster relief system could be improved, eliminating FEMA and shifting responsibility to the states will burden them with a task most lack the expertise, budgets, and capacity to manage. This will lead to greater human suffering in the wake of these escalating natural disasters.

The Congressional Research Service recently found that the number one way to improve FEMA’s service is to give it enough money in the annual appropriations bill rather than cutting its funding. This reduces the need for supplemental appropriations and avoids the delays associated with each request. Introducing policies to streamline the federal assistance process and simplify reimbursement requirements could also go a long way toward shaping a better disaster relief system.

Only Congress can dismantle FEMA, and even some Republican legislators will be reluctant to do so.  Republican-led states receive the most money from FEMA per capita. Congress would better serve the American people by helping FEMA do an even better job of helping individuals and communities recover from disasters.

Of course, science, facts, reason, and basic human decency will not deter Mr. Trump. But if there is a silver lining to his grievance rampage, it is that he is sowing the seeds of what will become a massive public rejection of him and his policies.

Until then, we will have to endure the onslaught, but we need not do so silently. Let’s do what we can to advocate for this critically important government agency!