After Hurricane Harvey leave the city of Houston badly knock about and flooded in August 2017 , and a 2nd hurricane call Irma was poise to wreak similar devastation upon Florida , theFederal Emergency Management Agency ( FEMA)revealed that its $ 6 billion Disaster Relief Fund ( DRF ) wasdown to its last $ 1 billion or so .
That led to alarming headlines such as"FEMA could campaign out of cash this weekend"and"FEMA is expect to Run Out of Money by Friday,“and possibly elevate public fears that the multi - faceted relief effort financed by the relief store — which pays for everything from polish off storm debris to providing cash Duncan James Corrow Grant to evacuee to bear for food for thought and protection — was in danger of grinding to a halt . But the U.S. Congress quick put such worries to take a breather on Sept. 8 , 2017 , by hastilypassing legislationthat gave the DRF an extract of immediate payment .
" The parking brake supplementary appropriation of $ 7.4 billion permit FEMA to continue to fully focus on the ongoing preparation , response , and recovery need , " said an representation representative via electronic mail .
While legislator may have rationalise it a routine tight , there was little chance that FEMA really would run out of cash . According to aCongressional Research Service psychoanalysis , Congress made 14 auxiliary annexation to the investment firm between 2004 and 2013 , for a sum of $ 89.6 billion . In one twelvemonth alone — 2005 , the year that Hurricane Katrina ravage New Orleans and other areas in the Gulf Coast — legislator bolster the fund with three supernumerary appropriations amounting to $ 43 billion .
That might lead you to wonder : Why does the relief fund run low on money so often ? Why not just increase its even budget ? Part of the result is that natural disaster simply are difficult to predict . Elizabeth A. Zimmerman , former associate administrator forFEMA ’s Office of Response and Recovery , enunciate that the agency bases its one-year acoustic projection of how much to put into the fund on rolling 10 - twelvemonth averages of what is involve to drop for hurricanes and other calamity . In recent years , that projection has worked out to around $ 6 billion per twelvemonth .
But a yr like 2017 can screw up a hole in that budget jolly quickly .
" Who would have thought that less in a month , two category 4 hurricane would hit the U.S. ? " read Zimmerman , now an Arizona - based emergency direction consultant . " That ’s never happened . " During ahurricanein the United States , FEMA typically spends money at a charge per unit of $ 200 million a day , Zimmerman says .
FEMA probably also go through money quicker these day than in the past . After 2005 ’s Hurricane Katrina , when the agency ’s response wascriticized for being dull and ineffectual , Congresspassed legislating reorganise FEMAto make it more nimble , and the agency began micturate more advanced preparations when a violent storm was coming .
" While it may cost more on the front end to fit FEMA with the resources necessary to set up in advance and to have supplying and equipment pre - positioned where they ’ll be needed most , it produces significant nest egg on the back remnant , " says Gary R. Webb , a prof and chair of the Emergency Management and Disaster Science department at the University of North Texas , in an email .
Rafael Lemaitre , who served as FEMA ’s director of public affairs during the Obama administration , enunciate that , 2017 aside , the relief investment trust has come close to running out of money on only one juncture .
" The Joplin , Missouri tornadoes in May 2011 leave the DRF at a disc low , " he says via e-mail . " Three month after , when Hurricane Irene roared into the Mid - Atlantic state , FEMA was force to significantly curb its cataclysm employment all across the country while the Obama administration expect for funding from Congress . FEMA used its modified DRF dollars for the most vital and press disaster demand , but that think of halting long - term recovery projects from previous cataclysm , leaving community of interests across the body politic changeable about the future . "
Lemaitre says that if FEMA ’s stock ever did entirely pass dry , the bureau would n’t be able-bodied to drop money without violating federal law . But he does n’t expect that ever to encounter . " Members of Congress from both parties have always been there for FEMA in times of need , " he says .
After Harvey hit , Congress quickly amended an appropriations bill to remove aproposed $ 875.5 million cutto the disaster relief fund , which reportedly was signify to help pay for President Trump ’s proposed border wall .
