Vermont’s congressional delegation has asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency to explain why it won’t send aid to the state even though damage from flooding in 2025 met the agency’s threshold.

During flash flooding on July 10, towns in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom sustained more damage to roads and bridges than they could cover with their own annual budgets. The state estimated the damage to be at least $1.85 million, more than the $1.2 million threshold for disaster aid. Gov. Phil Scott requested support from FEMA by way of a Major Disaster Declaration. The federal government has typically approved disaster declaration requests for Vermont in years past when damage meets the threshold.

But FEMA denied Scott’s request, then refused the state’s appeal. U.S. Sens. Peter Welch, D-Vt., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., want to know why.

The group sent a letter on Feb. 26 asking for “a detailed explanation of the decision by March 2, 2026.” By March 4, FEMA had not responded, according to Aaron White, a spokesperson for Welch.

“On the face of it, this is a clear ‘yes, the disaster declaration is valid and should be acknowledged,’” Welch said in an interview Wednesday. “What we continue to be frustrated with is that FEMA has denied it but not explained the basis of their denial, despite the clear validity of the request made by the governor and supported by the delegation.”

Without federal aid, Northeast Kingdom towns face an uphill climb to recovery. In Sutton, Vt., town officials are planning to take out a loan to pay off a $630,000 line of credit that’s due in August, according to Town Clerk Patricia McClure.

Town Administrator Jim Sullivan in Burke, Vt., said the town needs an engineer to fix a road that’s currently “a safety issue.” That concern keeps him awake at night, he said.

“It’s only a one-laner, and a really, real sharp dropoff on both sides. We have agricultural trucks that are riding on that, and if they came, two of them, at the same time, and they had to go side by side across that, one of them is going in.”

State officials are brainstorming alternative ways to provide money to towns that won’t get FEMA aid. At a news conference in February, Scott said he plans to work with lawmakers to include some funding for affected towns in the state budget, but that it “won’t be 100% by any stretch.”

Scott said he wanted to be careful about setting a precedent with the funding. The state won’t be able to backfill FEMA denials in all cases, he told reporters. But because the Trump administration is “looking at things differently than the previous administration,” and the towns qualified for aid, the situation merits state funding this time, he said.

Finding other sources of federal aid would also be a challenge, Welch said. FEMA is the “go-to place to get relief when you are impacted by a weather event, so anything else that we’d be trying to do would be duct tape and baling wire.”

Welch said he’s been concerned about a pattern of the Trump administration “picking winners and losers on the basis of whether they voted for Trump or they didn’t,” but whether FEMA’s denial was political was “not something that I can prove.”

A review council appointed by the president has also proposed changes to FEMA that include raising the threshold for states to receive disaster aid, according to NPR. Welch said he hasn’t been privy to those conversations and only knows about the proposed changes from media reports.

Sullivan said he needs to know soon whether the state plans to provide support to towns. He needs an engineer to assess the damaged road as soon as the snow melts, and with many grant deadlines coming at the end of March, his window is limited.

“They’re all trying to get in touch with me to say, ‘We’re trying to do something,’” Sullivan said. “It’s like, try harder or stop trying. One way or the other, let us move on, because we have roads that need to be fixed, and if you’re not going to pay for them, then I have to figure out how I’m going to pay for them, and that means I need to go to grants.”

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