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Hurricane season is upon us and FEMA doesn’t have any money for disaster relief. If huge parts of California decide to spontaneously combust, as they usually do this time of year, victims will be getting IOU’s. That’s surprising because they’re run by the Department of Homeland Security, who’s been funneling cash to illegals by the millions. Alejandro Mayorkas is running around looking like a little boy who spent his entire allowance on candy, then saw a new video game. He’s throwing a tantrum to congress and whining for more money.
FEMA flat broke
Alejandro Mayorkas got himself interviewed by Associated Press so he could tell the public how badly FEMA needs help from Congress. America is prepared for “an intense hurricane and wildfire season.” The Department of Homeland Security simply doesn’t have the money to respond.
“We expect the disaster relief fund, which is the critical fund that we use to resource impacted communities, we expect it will run out by mid-August.” He’s not about to consider diverting money away from herding illegals across the border for disaster relief.
What we need, Mayorkas declared, is for “Congress to fund the disaster relief fund.” Congress did fund it, he spent the money on other things and now he wants them to fund it again.
For +2 years, families in my district who lost everything during Hurricane Ida are still waiting for FEMA assistance. This delay is unacceptable. Today I voted for HR 271, calling on Congress to replenish FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund so that our community can finally heal. pic.twitter.com/6ZgJBUwurs
— Rep. Joe Webster (@RepJoeWebster) December 12, 2023
The Disaster Relief Fund he explains, is “the primary funding mechanism through which the Federal Emergency Management Agency provides aid to disaster-stricken areas of the country.” Mayorkas is convinced that the public won’t allow FEMA to go unfunded. He relied on that strategy when he spent the money on other things.
Generally speaking, taxpayers have been shelling out more and more each year to FEMA for the program. We were spending around $5 billion per year between 1992 and 2004. It started inching up to around $17 billion by 2021.
This year, we’ve already blown through $26 billion from the DRF account, which had $49 billion at the start of the year. More than half is gone and hurricane season hasn’t started yet.
Divert emergency funds
Mayorkas admits that he has the power to move cash around any way he wants. He loves using disaster money for other projects but won’t put money into that account from anywhere else. He want’s an infusion of fresh cash from Congress.
As Mayorkas told AP, “FEMA can divert emergency funds from other programs, and they are authorized use up to $34 million in other budgetary resources.”
To play up the sense of urgency, Mayorkas gave AP reporters a tour of FEMA headquarters. He used that as a backdrop to point out that “experts think that this year could be one of the busiest Atlantic hurricane seasons on record as climate changes causes storms to be more intense.”
The wildfires that swept through Maui in August were a catastrophic disaster.
At a hearing today, I stressed that this disaster isn’t over yet, and that Congress should be focused on providing relief to the people there by funding the government and FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund. pic.twitter.com/a3fvADQa0a
— Rep. Frank Pallone (@FrankPallone) September 28, 2023
Congress better fork over the cash he needs, quick, because “the first named storm of the season, Tropical Storm Alberto, brought heavy rain to parts of Mexico.”
They’re all set and ready to roll. If they only had the money to operate, he laments. His department, he insists, “is well equipped to deal with hurricanes and other natural disasters this summer, adding that more intense national disasters, partially due to climate change, have allowed the agency to gain experience in dealing with crises.”
FEMA wouldn’t be around if it weren’t for climate change. “As the impacts of climate change have been more and more evident, we have seen and experienced increasing frequency and gravity of extreme weather events.” Too bad he spent the relief money on hotel rooms and meals for migrants.
