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Did you know that FEMA has been so slammed that they are going to run out of money?
At least, that is the claim by Secretary of Homeland Security, the utterly incompetent and should-have-been-impeached Alejandro Mayorkas. As he and press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre went to South Carolina along with Joe Biden, so that he could do a tour of North Carolina, Mayorkas informed the press that FEMA – the Federal Emergency Management Agency – was going to run short of money. Part of Mayorkas’s comments are directed at the fact that the budget is currently working with a “continuing resolution” until after the election, which he does not see as “stable.”
Q And is there any update on the estimate of how much this is going to cost the federal government and how much you would be seeking from Congress for help?
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: So, as I mentioned, we have the immediate needs right now. On a continuing resolution, we have funds, but that is not a stable source of supply, if you will.
This is a multibillion-dollar, multiyear recovery. The magnitude of it —
Q Did you say million or billion?
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Billion.
Q Just on the funding. You know, we have two months left in hurricane season. Can you just characterize a little bit — if you don’t get more funding, how much trouble are we in if another big storm hits? Does that translate —
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Well —
Q — into lives lost?
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Well, there — there are a couple things. It’s very important to note that even though we’re on a continuing resolution, we — we do — can obtain spend-fast funds so that we can dip into funds that are slated for the duration of the year to meet immediate needs. So, we — we are meeting the moment.
But that doesn’t speak about the future and the fact, as I mentioned earlier, that these extreme weather events are increasing in frequency and severity, and we have to be funded for the sake of the American people. This is not a political issue.
The funding should not be a political issue, but how the FEMA money has been spent is DEFINITELY politically motivated. Let’s start with the numbers from Homeland Security. FEMA sent out a press release on August 23rd that they had $1.98 billion allocated for “Fiscal Year 2024 Preparedness Grants.”
Today, the Department of Homeland Security announced final allocations of nearly $724 million in six Fiscal Year 2024 competitive preparedness grant programs. This includes $454.5 million in funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, an increase of $149.5 million from Fiscal Year 2023, which will provide critical funding for faith-based groups and others to prevent and protect themselves from the heightened threat environment we face today.
These allocations, together with the more than $1.25 billion in non-competitive grant funding announced earlier this year, total almost $1.98 billion in Fiscal Year 2024 to help prepare our nation against threats and natural disasters.
The money being spent never decreases, because this is government that we are talking about. So even though Fiscal Year 2024 has come to an official close, there was no reduction in money being proposed. Grants, per FEMA, is the primary way that they distribute federal funds to all sorts of state and local governments, non-profits, individuals, and “institutions of higher learning.” Now, not all those grants are dedicated to disaster recovery (like dam safety), but they all tie together. For example, there’s the “Shelter and Services Program.” You would think that this program would be tailored exactly to what Americans who have just lost their homes need in short-term and long-term relief. And you would be very, very wrong.
The Shelter and Services Program (SSP) is administered by the FEMA in partnership with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). SSP provides financial support to non-federal entities to provide humanitarian services to noncitizen migrants following their release from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The intent is to support CBP in the safe, orderly and humane release of noncitizen migrants from short-term holding facilities.
Thanks to the ongoing border crisis, this particular program has been spending a LOT of money.
In a sane country, this would end the party in power https://t.co/fYdJkNbfri
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) October 2, 2024
Yes, that would be $640.9 million allocated through this one FEMA grant program to provide for illegal migrants. While that American taxpayer money is being spent on shelter and services for people here illegally, the people who have lost everything due to Hurricane Helene can take heart – they’re going to be given $750! Wow.
Kamala is on the ground in Georgia two days after President Trump’s visit to offer those who’ve lost everything $750. Don’t spend it all at once.
If you were Ukrainian or a migrant you’d qualify for more assistance, but you’re just an American citizen, so don’t expect much. pic.twitter.com/9zT8VPS1SB
— Bad Hombre (@joma_gc) October 2, 2024
The victims of Hurricane Helene should take heart – they’re getting 50 bucks more than those who lost everything in Maui! Remember Maui? Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are hoping you don’t, especially because the rebuilding of Lahaina has been so slow that people are giving up and leaving.
But where is the rest of that FEMA grant money?
Oh here’s another FEMA grant to NYC for assistance to illegal immigrants. $145 million, poof. Anyways, FEMA says they don’t have money to help Americans right now. https://t.co/TcdiCZ6apd
— Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) October 2, 2024
FEMA says they have no money.
Also, here’s a FEMA contract spending $183,000 on a diversity, equity, and inclusion study. https://t.co/vEIifoA3zR
— Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) October 3, 2024
While this is the beginning of the government’s fiscal year (it starts on October 1st each year), it seems that the money has already been spent ahead, or committed elsewhere, or squandered on DEI programs. $183,000 doesn’t look like a lot compared to the millions spent on illegal migrants, but it is $183,000 that ISN’T being spent to help hurricane victims. Is the “running out of money” line actual hyperbole on the part of Mayorkas to goose Congress into passing an increased budget right now, or getting a disaster aid supplemental bill passed (which would allow DHS and FEMA to get more money without having to budget properly or divert funds), or has he already spent most of the money just a few days into a new fiscal year? In the meantime, we are hearing story after story about the failures of FEMA on the ground, and how they are keeping people from helping their neighbors and fellow Americans in this time of great need.
And even if FEMA gets more money, will it actually GET to the people who need it most right now? Right now, both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are going hands off (and Kamala is even supporting) the longshoreman union strike on the East and Gulf Coasts. As Governor Ron DeSantis pointed out, that means supplies are NOT getting unloaded and to the people who need them.
At a press conference on Wednesday, DeSantis, who is leading hurricane recovery efforts in his state and is also helping surrounding states, said: “One of the things I’m concerned about is potentially these ports getting hung up.”
“I think it’s totally unacceptable to try to intentionally deprive people of the supplies they need to be able to rebuild their homes when they’ve been displaced at a natural disaster,” he said. “We should be doing all we can, the federal government should be doing all they can, to make sure all the supplies continue to come in here unabated.”
“Now is not the time,” he continued. “You already have people that are reeling. You have people that are on their backs. Let’s do everything we can to accelerate the relief. Make sure that they have the equipment, make sure they have the supplies that they need to be able to rehab their properties and rebuild their homes.”
DeSantis said that the administration’s disastrous response to the strikes could delay people getting the supplies that they need by weeks or even longer.
“I think it would be [a] really, really bad look for the Biden-Harris administration to allow supplies to just be sitting in the Atlantic Ocean, just on ships that are just idling, when you have people, not just here in Pinellas County, but up our entire Gulf Coast in Big Bend, who need it,” he said. “It’s not something that will be good if they allow this to happen.”
DeSantis is not wrong here. Joe Biden could order the striking longshoremen back to work, but he won’t do it, because he is playing a political game in hopes that it gets union support for Democrats. Mayorkas is playing politics with the funding of FEMA, hoping for a bigger increase in funding from Congress. And the people that are truly struggling on the ground? They get $750, eventually, once they fill out all the paperwork.
Featured image via Bill Koplitz on Wikimedia Commons from the FEMA Photo Library archives, cropped, public domain
GWB says: The funding should not be a political issue,
Baloney. It is exactly a political question. ALL gov’t expenditures are. You’re simply making an argument trying to use your moral high ground to ensure what you think ought to be there for spending is. The same with your next contention, that how the money gets spent is political.
And, honestly, they’re not saying they just pissed their budget away on Skittles and Nehi. It’s the end of the year, there’s no budget for next year (and, yes, that is Congress’ fault), and he’s saying the continuing resolution will actually cover their costs. All he’s doing is trying to convince people that HE needs more money next year – just like every bureaucrat and politician does every, single year. This is a budget argument, not a Salvation Army donate-right-now plea.
SSP provides financial support to non-federal entities to provide humanitarian services to noncitizen migrants
IOW, they pay to MAKE a disaster happen. Nicely done.
that would be $640.9 million allocated … to provide for illegal migrants
they’re going to be given $750!
Well, then, you should be happy about that grant program. At 10 million illegal aliens a year, that only works out to $64 each! Woohoo!
Also, understand that $750 is NOT a grant to fully restore people. It’s there to help you eat and find shelter in the immediate aftermath, while you get hold of your insurance company. Neither the federal or local government should be making you whole after a disaster. That’s your job – hopefully you bought insurance or have a bunch of money stashed against such an eventuality. Barring that, hopefully you have friends and family who will be charitable and help. It should probably be $1,000 based on current prices for things, but it isn’t intended to ultimately take care of you, just to tide you over until you get your safety net working.
Don’t spend it all at once.
Actually, it is intended to be spent almost all at once. Or did you not provide for yourself and just counted on Uncle Sugar to take care of you when something bad happened?
FEMA says they don’t have money to help Americans right now
Actually, Oilfield, that is not what he said at all. Oh, he kind of implied it, because he’s picked a really bad moment to shill for a bigger budget. (But, hey, never let a crisis go to waste, right?) But he does not actually, ever, say “We can’t help people in this disaster.”
it seems that the money has already been spent ahead
Well, that is what a BUDGET actually IS. Funds are committed to various things throughout the year. You’re now apparently asking them to spend next month’s grocery budget this month, and then to NOT pay this month’s electric bill and spend that money elsewhere.
And, ironically, that’s exactly what he says they will do if they need it. Here’s the quote:
we — we do — can obtain spend-fast funds so that we can dip into funds that are slated for the duration of the year to meet immediate needs
that means supplies are NOT getting unloaded and to the people who need them
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that very little that’s sitting in those ports right now would be help for the Helene victims. If anything, it will probably help clear the roads in the southeast for trucks to haul relief goods instead of commercial stuff from the ports. That will certainly impact all the non-victims, but the victims of Helene probably not so much.
I think it’s totally unacceptable to try to intentionally deprive people of the supplies they need to be able to rebuild their homes when they’ve been displaced at a natural disaster
Poppycock, Governor. The supplies to rebuild won’t be needed for some months, yet. Cleanup will take that long in most areas. Also, how much in building supplies comes through our ports? I don’t know, but most of our lumber and other building supplies come from Canada or Mexico or are made in the US. The bigger issue will be internal supply chains, as there are a couple of totally severed interstates that normally handle a lot of cargo traffic.
There was a long comment thread on Instapundit, yesterday, related to the Tennessee emergency folks asking people to back off with the volunteering at the moment. Lots of folks who have actually been involved in disaster relief stating some uncomfortable truths about some volunteers and some donations. A lot of donations won’t get used because they’re filthy, broken-down (including someone saying an entire trailer of things like chainsaws, that were all broken, and had to be stored somewhere until they could be disposed of), or not suitable to the needs/task. And a lot of that is people who are thinking “Well, it’s a lot more than what they have now, so I’ll send it.” But it’s why so many relief organizations ask you to donate money instead of things (or even time) – because they have suppliers that can get them quantities required, in a hurry, and they will be new or gently used items, and they have the logistics to make it happen. Another thing noted is that if non-local volunteers show up, they have to be housed and fed – in a situation where housing and food is already critical. Organizations show up with trailers and chuck wagons to take care of their people. And, of course, some people show up without any skill and just want to help. Kudos to them for their desire to help, but in the immediacy of the disaster, they are just an obstacle to everyone else. The best thing they can do is go volunteer somewhere that needs the help for the next disaster, so they can learn skills and how to integrate into the team.
Dietrich says: Whew, I was worried the millions of ILLEGAL immigrants would not be taken care of. /s
I really think the Biden/Harris Administration just want to take over the country, and they think they can do that by creating chaos. Look at what Hitler and the Nazi Party did. They just bullied everyone until they got their way.
We cannot give in to the Democrats. We have to replace them with people who care about the country.
Don says: How much of it went in their deep pockets???
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