In a surprise announcement, FEMA is running out of money after Hurricane Helene. This is according to Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, who spoke with reporters on Wednesday, October 3, about how the Federal Emergency Management Agency does “not have the funds” to make it through the remainder of the 2024 hurricane season, per The New York Times. That said, the agency responsible for disaster aid and relief has struggled in recent years with funding. Here’s why FEMA does not have enough money.
Is FEMA really bankrupt and out of funds in 2024?
FEMA revealed that its disaster fund had run out of money back in August 2024, and Hurricane Helene has only made the situation worse.
FEMA’s administrator, Deanne Criswell, stated in August that FEMA only had enough money for “immediate needs” and hoped that Congress would pass a $9 billion supplemental request to help restore funding, per WDBJ. This marks the second year in a row that its disaster fund had run out of funds before the hurricane season, which runs until November 30 in 2024, has passed.
For context, FEMA is responsible for providing disaster relief in addition to funds for rebuilding efforts, so when the agency went into “immediate needs” mode in August, it held back billions of dollars for rebuilding projects for more urgent life-saving relief, per Politico. When this happens, it chooses not to approve any new projects that rely on the disaster relief fund, including grants to repair infrastructure and projects that make communities safer from future natural disasters, according to NRDC. In this instance, the agency had placed many recovery operations, including those due to Hurricane Beryl and the wildfires in Hawaii, on hold.
In response, Congress recently provided $20 billion for FEMA’s relief fund as part of a spending bill that funds the government until December 20, as reported by The Hill. However, the measure that would have provided the additional supplemental funding for the agency was stripped from the bill by representatives like Florida Republican Matt Gaetz.
Mayorkas still suggests that this won’t be enough for the agency to provide relief for another major hurricane, which he says FEMA expects to happen again this year. President Biden believed that this wasn’t enough either, saying on Monday that he might need to call lawmakers back to Washington for extra disaster relief funding.
A bipartisan letter released on October 1 by 12 senators from states impacted by Hurricane Helene, including Tim Kaine and Marco Rubio, urged Congress to return by October to enact legislation that would provide additional disaster relief.
In 2024, major natural disasters that impacted the United States include flooding in Iowa and Vermont, tornados in Kentucky, wildfires in Colorado and California, and hurricanes Debby and Beryl.
