FEMA has spent nearly half of its disaster budget in the first eight days of Fiscal Year 2025.
“I’m going to have to evaluate how quickly we’re burning the remaining dollars in the Disaster Relief Fund,” FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said, according to Politico.
Out of the $20 billion allocated to the agency’s disaster fund, FEMA has already used about $9 billion.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas urged Congress to provide additional funding for FEMA.
“That being said, we will need additional funds, and we implore Congress, when it returns to, in fact, fund FEMA as is needed,” Mayorkas said.
A recent report from the Department of Homeland Security inspector general, however, found more than $7 billion in unliquidated funds that could “potentially be returned to the Disaster Relief Fund.”
The statements from both Criswell and Mayorkas contradict a White House fact sheet, which claimed that FEMA has “sufficient funding to both support the response to Hurricane Milton and continue to support the response to Hurricane Helene– including funding to support first responders and provide immediate assistance to disaster survivors.”
