secretary of the Department of Homeland Security was in Kentucky yesterday to tour regions devastated by recent flooding.

Secretary Kristi Noem flew over parts of eastern Kentucky before meeting with Governor Andy Beshear in Frankfort.

She praised the state for its handling of the disaster response, and said she spoke with the governor several times since the flooding began.

After a quick meeting with Governor Beshear, Secretary Noem heard from members of Kentucky's emergency management team and then answered questions from reporters, including a question about President Donald Trump's statement that he'd like to eliminate FEMA.

We had the opportunity to do, I don't know, maybe an hour and a half, two hours in the air, flying over the flooded area in the Kentucky River and seeing some of the homes that were destroyed and flooded, some of the areas, the hospital that was so, jeopardized by floodwaters that were, very close to coming over the wall, but also seeing, many of the businesses, as low as we could get.

And we did not have a chance to get on the ground because the trip is so quick.

And even when the event started, the governor and I were in conversation and and talking on the phone quite often.

And I think that's been one of the benefits of us moving quickly is, you know, I was a governor before.

And governors runs disaster responses.

I did 12 FEMA, related disasters in the six years that I was governor in South Dakota.

And so I understand all the programs and the response and how it happens and the best response.

And typically in every state, it is, a locally led disaster response that supported by the state.

And FEMA comes in and then builds more resources behind that and fills in the gaps.

That's necessary.

And that's what exactly happened here.

So but we do that well, it's helpful when leaders know each other and can pick up the phone and call by message from President Trump today, as he knew we were coming here, and he wanted all of you to know that he's, ready to help and respond and support.

We've talked about giving the states more opportunity just to get funds and to decide how those funds get best utilized to serve their people.

I mean, that's really President Trump's vision.

You've heard him talk about eliminating FEMA, and what he means by that is that the people that are closest to the individuals that were hurt or impacted by a disaster are the ones who know what they need more than people sitting in Washington DC do.

So the ability for us to, you know, grant dollars to the state or to the local authorities so that they can decide how those moneys get and those resources get deployed is important.

And our thanks to Lex channel 18 here in Lexington for the use of that interview.

The white House has approved Kentucky's request for an expedited major disaster declaration.

That means individuals impacted by flooding can apply for individual assistance grants of more than $40,000 so far that only applies to people in these counties that you see highlighted in yellow Breathitt, Clay, Harlan, not Lee, Letcher, Martin, Owsley, Perry, and Pike counties.

More counties could be added.

Governor Beshear talked about Secretary Nam's visit during his news conference today, and he talked more about the state's flood response.

The governor talked about working with the Kentucky attorney or the Kentucky General Assembly, rather, to provide the proper amount of money for the state's response.

The Safe fund we're working on with the state legislature is going to be really important, to helping on that.

On the safe and productive conversations are going on right now.

We've seen an incredible willingness from our general Assembly to help only positive things to to say about how that's proceeding.

And I'm really optimistic that we're going to get something this session, because everybody seems to to want to help and remember that the process is important because there were additions from, legislative leaders that were really beneficial in how we put this together, both for the West and the East.

And so I look forward to continuing to work with our legislature to try to get one of these funds in place.

As soon as we can, but but to get it done correctly.

And so when we look at, at what we're talking to lawmakers about, we're not reinventing the wheel are safe funds.

We're very similar, from the Western Kentucky tornadoes and then the eastern Kentucky floods.

What I'd like to see in this one is a little more flexibility between two of the three parts that were there to be able to, to, to move money where it's needed, a little bit easier.

This one, one thing that's going to be different, as we think about it, is, is the debris removal.

It is not localized, even though there's more in some places it is statewide.

And so thinking through, how, the fund can be used to, to activate that is, is probably our, our biggest challenge, as, as we look going forward.

But as long as we can get, the right general structure in place, which we've worked with, I'm very confident that we can get a fund that works.

On a different topic, a reporter asked the governor if he had any interest in the U.S. Senate race in Kentucky in 2026, now that U.S.

Senator Mitch McConnell has announced he won't seek reelection, the governor said he is not interested and will finish his term as governor.

When he was asked about seeking the presidency in 2028, the governor said he'll figure that out after his term as governor is over.