Mayorkas says FEMA has no more disaster funds, but IG report says agency is sitting  Story by Elizabeth MacDonald • 5h •

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas faces a new firestorm of criticism for claiming FEMA is out of disaster funds right as the Inspector General for Homeland Security released a report saying FEMA is sitting on at least $8.3 billion in untapped, unspent funds. 

On Oct 2, Mayorkas said, "We are expecting another hurricane hitting. We do not have the funds. FEMA does not have the funds to make it through the season and what is imminent."

This new controversy is surfacing as Hurricane Milton is strengthening into a Cat 4 and massive evacuations are now underway in Florida, which is still struggling from Hurricane Helene, as is much of the Southeast.  

But analysts say FEMA cannot tap unspent appropriations from long-ago crises, so the money sits frozen as 600 people are reportedly still missing from Hurricane Helene, at least 220 died, and entire towns were wiped off the map. Helene is the most catastrophic hurricane to hit the U.S. since Katrina in 2005.

Budget experts warn that this new firestorm shows that FEMA has been turned into a slush fund that the agency and the Biden-Harris White House can spend at will. 

An August 2024 report from Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General noted, "As of October 2022, FEMA estimated that 847 disaster declarations with approximately $73 billion in unliquidated funds remained open." The report also says "$8.3 billion in unliquidated obligations" was "for disasters declared in 2012 or earlier" that analysts say could be returned to help people battling for survival in disasters now. on billions 

 

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