The US homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, has warned that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) does not have enough funding to make it through the rest of this hurricane season, which started off more quietly than forecast but has roared into catastrophe with Hurricane Helene and typically runs until the end of November.
The warning on Thursday underscored how the federal government is being stretched thin as top Republicans have signaled they won’t give it more funding.
“We are meeting the immediate needs with the money that we have. We are expecting another hurricane hitting,” Mayorkas said. “Fema does not have the funds to make it through the season.”
Mayorkas’ comments come as the agency is providing emergency assistance to those affected by Helene, as the massive storm affected 10 states after coming ashore in Florida a week ago as a category four hurricane, which overall has killed at least 215 people.
More than 150,000 households have registered with assistance from Fema, the Associated Press reported, and the agency expects that number to increase.
Congress recently approved $20bn for Fema as part of a supplemental spending bill, and gave the agency power to quickly use the funds. Joe Biden has suggested calling the US Congress back from recess, which is supposed to last through the November 5 presidential election, to pass additional funding for the agency.
“That is something I may have to request, but no decision has been made yet,” he said at the White House on Monday.
A bipartisan group of senators from affected states, including senators Rick Scott and Marco Rubio of Florida, and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, also called on Congress to allocate more emergency relief funding.
“Although the true level of devastation is still unfolding, it is clear that Congress must act to meet the unmet needs in our states and address the scope and scale of destruction experienced by our constituents,” the group wrote in a Tuesday letter. “This may even require Congress to come back in October to ensure we have enough time to enact legislation before the end of this calendar year.”
The House speaker, Mike Johnson, has signaled that supplemental funding would come from Congress, but that the body would not convene immediately to pass it. He predicted more funding would come after election day, when Congress returns from its recess, Politico reported, and that “it will take some time to tabulate” the extent of the damage.
Other Republicans have suggested that Fema has enough funding.
“It provides for up to $20bn and we’re not going to run out of money to respond to natural disasters. They didn’t add money, but we can use it faster, and it resolves any concerns I have,” Senator John Kennedy, a hard-right Republican from Louisiana and a member of the Senate appropriations committee, told the Hill. “We’ll talk about it in December, particularly if we keep having natural disasters,” Kennedy said.
Biden rebuffed the suggestion that additional funds could wait, telling reporters on Thursday while touring affected areas in Florida and Georgia: “Can’t wait. People need help now.”
Donald Trump and other Republicans have seized on the shortfall to criticize Biden and Kamala Harris for spending money assisting migrants. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Fema, also is in charge of immigration issues.
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“They stole the Fema money just like they stole it from a bank so they could give it to their illegal immigrants that they want to have vote for them this season,” Trump said in a speech in Michigan on Thursday. Trump has leaned into the myth of non-citizen voting to seed doubt about the 2024 election.
Also, on the campaign trail in Michigan on Thursday, Trump said of Helene victims: “They’re dying, and they’re getting no help from our federal government because their money has been spent on people that should not be in our country.”
In fact, the Biden-Harris administration said that the government has provided $20m in “flexible, upfront funding” for the disaster and deployed 5,000 federal personnel to aid in recovery.
Texas governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, echoed Trump’s criticism.
“Mayorkas and Fema – immediately stop spending money on illegal immigration resettlement and redirect those funds to areas hit by the hurricane. Put Americans first,” he tweeted.
Fema has spent more than $600m on assistance to migrants and an agency spokesperson noted it was misleading to suggest that the funding came at the expense of disaster relief.
“The Shelter and Services Program (SSP) is a completely separate, appropriated grant program that was authorized and funded by Congress and is not associated in any way with Fema’s disaster-related authorities or funding streams,” a spokesperson told NBC News.