When a series of deadly storms and tornadoes pummeled Arkansas in mid-March, downing power lines and tearing up homes, Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders asked the federal government for money to not only help repair the damage, but also boost the state’s defenses against future disasters.

On May 8, President Donald Trump approved the state’s request for funds to help individuals and families recover. But a week later, the Federal Emergency Management Agency told Huckabee Sanders, a Republican who was Trump’s press secretary during his first term, that it was denying the second pot of money — the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program — to help the state rebuild stronger, according to a rejection letter seen by Bloomberg News.

Later in the month, the agency denied a hazard mitigation funding request from Virginia, weeks after Trump approved other aid as part of a major disaster declaration for mid-February winter storms. Virginia officials say they “are exploring the appeals process but do not have any further details.”

These denials mark a stark departure from how previous administrations have handled such requests. In recent decades, presidents have routinely signed off on those funds as part of the large aid package that comes with major disaster declarations, according to interviews with six state hazard mitigation officials and former FEMA officials and advisors. Unlike the type of help Trump has continued to approve, which states use to cover immediate needs after a wildfire or hurricane, hazard mitigation funds pay for extra protections to help communities better withstand future natural disasters, such as elevating buildings in flood zones or adding safe rooms to homes in tornado-prone areas.

In addition to those two denials, the administration held off on approving 11 other similar requests over the past two months even as it signed off on other parts of state post-disaster aid packages. FEMA is still reviewing their applications, according to officials from Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas, which is waiting to hear back on a second request for a more recent disaster. With the exception of Kentucky and Kansas, all these states have Republican governors.

Disaster officials and researchers say these funds are essential to prepare and protect communities in the long term as climate change increases the number and severity of natural disasters. Spending the money now to increase states’ resilience also reduces future damages and recovery costs, they say.

“It’s a really effective use of one-time dollars that saves FEMA money in the long run, but also helps our people to be safer,” said Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat, who is waiting to hear back on separate requests for hazard mitigation funding made following severe weather in April and May.

The White House declined to comment on specific state requests for hazard mitigation funds. Spokesperson Abigail Jackson said the administration is monitoring states’ ability to spend hazard mitigation grants as it weighs new requests, adding that officials have seen large balances of unallocated and unspent funds.