Trump denied New Jersey's request for FEMA aid after a blizzard. Andy Kim is worried it's about politics.

Sen. Andy Kim wants to get to the bottom of why President Donald Trump rejected New Jersey’s request for FEMA aid over a record-breaking snowstorm earlier this year.

Winter Storm Hernando, a massive blizzard, hit New Jersey and other Northeastern states hard in February. New Jersey submitted an $84 million disaster request after tallying the damage in the weeks that followed.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency in July rejected New Jersey’s request as part of $227 million in disaster aid requests from four Democratic-led states that were denied, Politico reported Wednesday.

The decision came from Trump after regional FEMA offices and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration determined that the states met the required thresholds to receive aid, according to the report, which cited a former FEMA official calling the move to override the agencies unconventional.

“We need to make sure that we’re focused on the safety of the American people,” Kim said in an interview Thursday. “We need absolute assurance that that is not going to happen based off of partisan politics and the whims of the president.”

The South Jersey Democrat is the ranking member on the subcommittee that oversees FEMA, the federal agency responsible for doling out aid to communities hit by disaster.

The president must declare a disaster in order for states to access FEMA aid — and the same goes for individual assistance. Democrats have in recent weeks raised concerns that Trump has penalized blue states in these decisions.

A 16-page NOAA report indicated snowfall records in seven counties in the state, and a 12-page spreadsheet developed by FEMA and New Jersey documented the $84.4 million in costs, which were primarily for snow removal, Politico reported.

The National Weather Service reported blizzards in several counties, including in Southeast Burlington County and other parts of South Jersey. The blizzard caused disruptions to the region such as thousands going without power, school closures, and transit disruptions.

Sean Higgins, a spokesperson for New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill, said the state’s request included costs incurred by the state’s municipalities and counties. He said Sherrill’s administration will appeal the denial.

“Without that aid, our local governments will be stuck with the costs of an unprecedented snowstorm that didn’t care about political boundaries … Governor Sherrill will continue to fight for every dime that New Jerseyans are owed, regardless of political party,” Higgins said in a statement.

FEMA’s cost threshold for public assistance for New Jersey is about $18 million, according to the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management, far below the assessed damage from the storm.

FEMA did not respond to an inquiry about the rejection on Thursday, but Kim said the agency said it disagreed that New Jersey met the threshold.

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson has told news outlets that Trump is ensuring FEMA aid is used “to supplement — not substitute” states’ “obligation to respond to and recover from disasters.”

The South Jersey senator said he has “concerns” that the rejection was political but he can’t say for sure.

“I understand that you know, the federal government’s not supposed to cover everything for everything, but ... this was a situation of record snowfall in wide swaths of New Jersey and, frankly, across the country,” Kim said.

If the state’s appeal isn’t successful, Kim said he has “more tools in my toolbox to try to get my state the funding they deserve” but declined to share what those would be, saying it’s part of a “broader negotiation.”

The White House has maintained that Trump’s rejections have not been political. But Kim and other Democrats have cited a March Politico report that found Trump’s second administration rejected disaster aid for Democratic-run states at the highest rate in the 47 years that FEMA has existed.

The rejections underscore bigger questions of the future of FEMA. Trump previously called for the dismantling of FEMA before changing course, but his advisors have recommended an overhaul of the agency that would put more responsibility on states, NPR reported.

Trump has also caused concern among Democrats for withholding FEMA’s Homeland Security grants from states that do not comply with his administration’s requests for unredacted voter data, including New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

New Jersey was also hit hard by flooding earlier this month and Sherrill said she believes the state would likely qualify for FEMA aid.

Joseph Walsh, a spokesperson for the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management, said New Jersey is still in the process of “collecting and validating” the assessed flood damage. Once that’s complete, the state will decide on whether to submit a request.

Kim said he is trying to clarify and codify FEMA’s role and work with a bipartisan group of legislators on the issue.

“Every single state is prone to some type of disaster, and so I just don’t want a situation where we’re pitting the states against each other ... I hope we can all agree that we want to be there for each other in their time of need,” he said.