The Trump administration has officially denied an appeal from the state of Illinois for disaster relief funds for summer storms last year that affected 438,000 residents in five Illinois counties.
Gov. JB Pritzker had requested authorization of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s individual assistance for affected counties, as well as disaster loan programs to help Illinoisans after a multi-day storm Aug. 16-19 that passed through Boone, Cook, Kane, McHenry and Will counties. Trump in October approved major disaster declarations for Alaska, Nebraska, North Dakota and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. But he also denied requests from Illinois, Maryland and Vermont.
In announcing assistance for Alaska and North Dakota, Trump wrote on social media that he won Alaska “BIG” in 2016, 2020 and 2024. He touted the same for North Dakota.
That led Pritzker to call the denial politically motivated — and to try to appeal the decision. In two letters sent to Trump last year, Pritzker said the intense rainfall overwhelmed Chicago’s sewer system on the Southwest Side as well as in Cicero and other suburbs, hurting many “economically vulnerable” residents. Flood survivors are coping with health hazards, including mold and contamination from sewage backup, conditions that can lead to respiratory problems for children and older adults, the letters said.
The Sun-Times in November detailed a Garfield Ridge resident’s flood damage that led her basement to fill with sewage. The single mom and her three kids experienced what tens of thousands of people across the city and Cook County endured during heavy rainfall in July and August, according to documents reviewed by the Sun-Times that included the unnamed family’s story, along with examples of many others.
Disaster money is provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the state has historically received hundreds of millions of dollars after severe weather.
But in a letter dated Saturday, FEMA reaffirmed its initial decision, writing that supplemental federal assistance was not warranted. The denial specifically applied to the state’s request for individual assistance for residents in Boone, Cook, Kane, McHenry, and Will counties.
Pritzker on Monday called the denial “a politically motivated decision that punishes thousands of Illinois families in a critical moment of need.”
“Playing politics with disaster relief funding is a new low, even for the Trump Administration,” Pritzker said in a statement. “Ignoring the realities of widespread damage from the August 2025 severe storms, speaks volumes about the federal government’s vindictive priorities and complete disregard for American livelihoods.”
The White House has defended its decision, saying the president responds to federal aid requests “with great care and consideration, ensuring American tax dollars are used appropriately and efficiently by the states to supplement — not substitute, their obligation to respond to and recover from disasters.”
Contributing: Brett Chase