The Federal Emergency Management’s Agency disaster relief is “rapidly nearing exhaustion,” Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, told a committee Wednesday.
“Every state in the nation has had a disaster declared in recent years and has relied on FEMA for response and recovery, including several Maine communities affected by last year’s winter storms,” she said during a Senate Appropriations Committee as part of a broader hearing on national disaster needs, adding the disaster relief fund is “rapidly nearing exhaustion.”
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell during the hearing said that “in just one month, we saw over 2.4 million households register for assistance, breaking records set during previous catastrophic storms,” adding that the agency has already provided “more than $7.8 billion in federal assistance for hurricanes Helene and Milton.”
She said the figure includes $3 billion for individual assistance and $1.7 billion for public assistance.
The report comes two days after the White House said President Joe Biden would send to Congress an emergency funding bill “in the coming days” with the intent to address the urgent need for disaster relief throughout the United States following a brutal storm season.
"The Biden-Harris Administration stands ready to work with lawmakers to deliver the vital resources our communities need with strong bipartisan and bicameral support -- just as Speaker Mike Johnson has promised," Shalanda Young, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, wrote in the memo.
A spokesperson for FEMA on Wednesday said the agency has enough dollars in the fund “to support ongoing response activities for Hurricanes Helene and Milton” through Dec. 20, “assuming no new large disasters between now and then.”
“However, FEMA will need additional funding beyond its 2025 budget request to support recovery efforts in those states hit by Helene and Milton and meet its overall mission requirements through the end of the fiscal year,” the spokesperson said.