With a grim storm forecast ahead, the nation’s top disaster responders are in danger of running out of cash at the peak of hurricane season— again.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster Relief Fund is on pace to run dry by August. Without congressional action, that could leave Florida and other states staring at massive expenses and slower recovery efforts if a major storm hits. The chances for that are high ahead of what is predicted to be the busiest season on record.
At a press conference at the National Hurricane Center last week, FEMA Deputy Administrator Erik Hooks said the agency would switch to prioritizing “life-saving, life-sustaining work” if funding dwindles. That could leave important programs like individual financial aid or reimbursements for governments cleaning up storm debris on the chopping block. By September, the agency that leads disaster response across the country projects it could be nearly $7 billion short.“It’s something that we’re concerned about because we want to make sure we have all of our programs up and running at full strength,” he said. “We have not faced an issue where we have not been able to provide services, We don’t even want to bump up close to that possibility.”
Florida Sens. Rick Scott and Marco Rubio, both Republicans, wrote a letter to FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell highlighting the issue last month, where they called the potential funding shortage “unacceptable.”
“We cannot stress enough how devastating this funding shortage would be to hurricane and disaster relief efforts in Florida and across the country,” they wrote.
But FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund could run out of money by August, according to their monthly fund reports.
Though it could activate its Immediate Needs Funding program starting in July, which means they will only fund major disaster efforts, which would “deprioritize” other obligations. And that means Tallahassee aid could get put on the back burner.
Strip subsidies from fossil fuels and put them to FEMA and other disaster funds. People will complain about higher fuel prices but the subsidies came out of tax money so they were already paying the total prices.
The processed gasoline and diesel prices are pretty much set by the private sector, which is what makes it all the more frustrating that people think the government (specifically, the US President) is what’s responsible for the price at the pump.
Much of the subsidy is in the form of tax exemptions for extraction, military involvement, and other systemic support endemic to the tax structure.
In terms of individual private support via the Red Cross et al, I recommend establishing a steady monthly donation in lieu of stressing out every time you see some heart-tugging coverage. Disaster response depends a lot on what’s stocked in the warehouses ahead of time, and you can help keep those warehouses full. (Consider yourself baseload. 😉)