Stretched thin in a year marred by flood disasters, severe weather events, tornado outbreaks and historic wildfires, the nation’s Federal Emergency Management Agency is being pushed to its financial limits, facing a shortfall in disaster relief funds.
FEMA is pausing funding for some of its relief programs for non-life-saving and life-sustaining activities to ensure the agency can respond to immediate disasters.
“It's of concern that the funding continues to run out,” said Chloe Demrovsky, who was appointed to the FEMA National Advisory Council in 2023. “I think that there does need to be a hard look at what is within FEMA's mandate to respond to what constitutes an emergency.”
The council advises FEMA on all aspects of emergency management, preparedness, response and recovery for national emergencies.
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Through August, FEMA has issued 115 disaster declarations for 2024. The majority of those disaster declarations were issued for wildfires and severe weather events.
FEMA released a statement to Scripps News, reading in part:
“FEMA has taken proactive steps to ensure the DRF has sufficient funding for lifesaving and life-sustaining activities for ongoing disasters and new disasters that may arise. This includes sufficient funding for FEMA’s individual assistance program. All of FEMA’s work is important to strengthening our nation’s preparedness, response and recovery, and we will resume funding paused projects as soon as the DRF is replenished.”
Demrovsky said the lack of adequate funding for FEMA coupled with increasing disasters is creating a vicious cycle.
“A lot of these kinds of disasters, hurricanes, wildfires, they reoccur in the same communities in the same locations. So, if we delay those projects, that means that we are less prepared for future disasters, more vulnerable to them,” said Demrovsky.
FEMA officials are hoping lawmakers will replenish the Disaster Relief Fund when Congress returns to session in September.
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The question many are asking is how the Disaster Relief Fund got so
depleted?
“I think FEMA gets yelled at a lot, but you gotta remember FEMA does not appropriate these funds.FEMA did not design the programs the way that Congress set them up,” said Craig Fugate, who served as head of FEMA from 2009 to 2017.
Fugate said while the U.S. is seeing more and more billion-dollar disasters, more people are also uninsured or live in areas where insurance isn’t available, making the need for federal assistance even greater when disaster strikes.
“We're seeing more disasters, but we're also seeing in many parts of the country insurance becoming unaffordable or not available,” said Fugate.
Fugate said that while this is the second year the Disaster Relief Fund has been pushed to a critical threshold, the agency will be prepared to respond to the next disaster.
“FEMA has never run out of money. Congress either through the, the appropriations process or through a supplemental has provided funding,” said Fugate.
“I'm hoping that there will be increased funding for FEMA, and I think that there needs to be, there are just so many threats,” said Demrovsky.
As the perils of extreme weather become more evident, the pressure will be on lawmakers to help the agency meet the demands of a changing climate.
