FEMA has enough money to respond to Hurricanes Helene and Milton

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is not at risk of running out of money and being unable to support survivors in the immediate aftermath of a disaster, despite misinformation that has swirled in recent days.

While the agency does have some long-term funding question marks, it has enough money to address the impacts of Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

“I have funding and sufficient resources to support the ongoing responses to Hurricane Helene as well as Hurricane Milton,” FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told reporters Wednesday.

FEMA’s job is to help before, during and after a disaster, including through search and rescue operations and emergency shelter. In the longer-term aftermath, the agency also helps communities rebuild.

Money for the agency’s disaster response efforts primarily comes from its Disaster Relief Fund.

This fund recently got a cash infusion from the stopgap spending measure Congress passed last month, preventing a government shutdown. Currently, it has about $11 billion, Criswell told reporters.

But disaster response is costly.

“Even one event can account for multiple billions of dollars,” said Anna Weber, senior policy analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Therefore, Weber said, the $11 billion “isn’t going to go very far, especially in the case of a major disaster like the ones we’re facing today.”

Nevertheless, if the Disaster Relief Fund runs out, FEMA also has backup pockets of money it can use.

When that fund is running low, as it was earlier this year, the agency can employ what’s called “Immediate Need Funding” guidance.

When operating under “Immediate Needs Funding,” FEMA can redirect money that otherwise goes to projects helping communities rebuild in the long-term or prepare for future disasters.

Those projects get put on hold so FEMA can conduct lifesaving operations in the immediate aftermath of a disaster.

This shifting of resources can negatively impact communities and local governments where projects are halted, delaying their recovery. But it allows the agency to conduct emergency operations even when funding is short.

Prior to the passage of the stopgap measure earlier this year, FEMA was working under Immediate Needs Funding.

This is not necessarily unusual : The agency has previously implemented this guidance in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2017 and 2023.

It’s also at risk of doing so again. Criswell said last week that without supplemental funding, FEMA may need to reinstate Immediate Need Funding by January.

Doing so could harm “any community that’s been hit by a major disaster in the past several years,” Weber said.

“There are still active grants from Hurricane Katrina,” she added, referring to the 2005 storm that impacted Louisiana. “There’s some long-term work that’s going on there.”

Other areas Weber pointed to include parts of Hawaii impacted by wildfires last year and parts of Florida recovering from 2022’s Hurricane Ian.

“What gets kind of moved to the back burner are projects that are ongoing,” said Stan Gimont, senior adviser for community recovery at Hagerty Consulting and member of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s disaster response reform task force.

Gimont noted this can include permanent construction and infrastructure repairs.

Due to the potential impact on such communities, calls are building for Congress to pass supplemental funding for FEMA so these recovery projects can still be funded in the event of another emergency.

FEMA and other officials have pushed back on misinformation surrounding the availability of funding in recent days.

Former President Trump has falsely claimed the agency doesn’t have enough money to respond to Hurricane Helene because it spent the money on housing migrants.

He has also said that the government is “offering people $750 … for the worst hurricane that anybody’s seen.”

FEMA has said that it can provide survivors more than that, and the $750 figure only applies to one specific type of payment for immediate essential needs such as food, water and baby formula. Survivors may qualify for additional assistance from the agency.

Zack Budryk contributed.

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