News
Apr 19 2010
FEMA faces own fiscal emergency
Money’s so short at the Federal Emergency Management Agency these days that it may soon declare an emergency of its own — to raise cash for the next disaster facing the United States.
That’s the upshot of a letter to Congress from FEMA Director W. Craig Fugate, who warns that relief funds are running dry and FEMA is poised to invoke an emergency exception to get around budget statutes and provide limited aid in the event of a new disaster.
The crisis, building for months, is an apt metaphor for many of the ills that beset this Congress. Much as President Barack Obama sees himself as a champion of big ideas, his administration keeps tripping over smaller, practical steps in everyday governance.
Republican obstructionism is surely a factor, but so, too, is the Democratic leadership’s failure — some would say political cuteness — about building in enough floor time on the legislative calendar.
The Senate allowed the estate tax to lapse in December under similar circumstances, costing the Treasury billions. Despite earlier promises, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) now fears that a must-pass war funding bill won’t clear Congress before Memorial Day.
The White House is not immune.
As Obama demands more transparency from Wall Street, his administration is quietly running a disaster relief fund that would be insolvent already if FEMA were to pay the bills owed to states. Five years after Hurricane Katrina — which hurt his predecessor — it’s a growing embarrassment.
Fugate’s letter said that just $693 million remained in the disaster relief fund as of April 7. But $645 million is already owed to 47 states for past disasters; not counted is an additional $1.7 billion to meet settlements on federal payments owed to Gulf Coast state and city governments rebuilding hospitals and schools damaged by Katrina.
The administration wants Congress to approve $5.1 billion in emergency funds to ease FEMA’s problems, but this request is a story in itself, arriving late despite ample warning last year.
When the 2010 Homeland Security budget — including FEMA — passed Congress in October, the House and Senate Appropriations committees went so far as to include language urging the administration to come up with a request promptly. Yet the White House waited almost four months, apparently fearing that an earlier request could complicate the debate over the president’s new war strategy for Afghanistan in November and December.
In February, the administration finally asked for $3.6 billion more for FEMA, then upped this by $1.5 billion to $5.1 billion soon after. Even now, the president’s $1.95 billion request for fiscal 2011, which begins Oct. 1, falls short of the projected needs, laying the groundwork for another emergency supplemental down the road.
“It is obviously low-balling,” Rep. David Price told POLITICO, and as chairman of the House Appropriations panel overseeing FEMA and homeland security, the North Carolina Democrat admits some frustration. “We had hoped this administration would be better in presenting the Homeland budget, and in many ways they are. But in this case, the funds are inadequate, and they are buying trouble down the road.”
Prior to the spring recess, the House approved the added $5.1 billion requested for FEMA this year, but Democrats also threw in $600 million more for a summer jobs program — a decision that could slow passage in the Senate.
The full $600 million is offset on paper by rescinding prior appropriations. But these are often not true savings, since the money — such as $361.8 million from a nutrition program — wasn’t expected to be spent in any case.
When all is said and done, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) predicted Wednesday that the FEMA package could end up in the also-delayed war supplemental bill — a debate that could run into June.
The core pieces of that war bill already include $33 billion for the troop buildup under way in Afghanistan and $4.5 billion for related foreign aid and State Department civilian operations.
The administration is also seeking $2.8 billion to assist in Haiti’s recovery from the devastating earthquake. But some liberal House Democrats are pressing to have the Afghanistan-related money treated separately because of their opposition to the war.
“Nothing has coalesced yet,” Hoyer told POLITICO after leadership discussions and a White House meeting Wednesday. But one scenario would be for the House to pass a relatively clean war funding bill, and then have the Senate add Haiti, FEMA and likely other requests related to Native American and black farmer settlements with the government.
Such a package could easily approach $50 billion: another reason Democrats argue that it would be good for the House and Senate to first pass a budget resolution.
And lost in the shuffle is this footnote:
The Haiti funding request was sent up to Congress only last month because the White House wanted to keep it for the war supplemental — and thereby attract liberal votes. The fear had been that if it came earlier, it would be tacked onto the faster-moving FEMA package.
No reason to worry about that anymore.
That’s the upshot of a letter to Congress from FEMA Director W. Craig Fugate, who warns that relief funds are running dry and FEMA is poised to invoke an emergency exception to get around budget statutes and provide limited aid in the event of a new disaster.
The crisis, building for months, is an apt metaphor for many of the ills that beset this Congress. Much as President Barack Obama sees himself as a champion of big ideas, his administration keeps tripping over smaller, practical steps in everyday governance.
Republican obstructionism is surely a factor, but so, too, is the Democratic leadership’s failure — some would say political cuteness — about building in enough floor time on the legislative calendar.
The Senate allowed the estate tax to lapse in December under similar circumstances, costing the Treasury billions. Despite earlier promises, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) now fears that a must-pass war funding bill won’t clear Congress before Memorial Day.
The White House is not immune.
As Obama demands more transparency from Wall Street, his administration is quietly running a disaster relief fund that would be insolvent already if FEMA were to pay the bills owed to states. Five years after Hurricane Katrina — which hurt his predecessor — it’s a growing embarrassment.
Fugate’s letter said that just $693 million remained in the disaster relief fund as of April 7. But $645 million is already owed to 47 states for past disasters; not counted is an additional $1.7 billion to meet settlements on federal payments owed to Gulf Coast state and city governments rebuilding hospitals and schools damaged by Katrina.
The administration wants Congress to approve $5.1 billion in emergency funds to ease FEMA’s problems, but this request is a story in itself, arriving late despite ample warning last year.
When the 2010 Homeland Security budget — including FEMA — passed Congress in October, the House and Senate Appropriations committees went so far as to include language urging the administration to come up with a request promptly. Yet the White House waited almost four months, apparently fearing that an earlier request could complicate the debate over the president’s new war strategy for Afghanistan in November and December.
In February, the administration finally asked for $3.6 billion more for FEMA, then upped this by $1.5 billion to $5.1 billion soon after. Even now, the president’s $1.95 billion request for fiscal 2011, which begins Oct. 1, falls short of the projected needs, laying the groundwork for another emergency supplemental down the road.
“It is obviously low-balling,” Rep. David Price told POLITICO, and as chairman of the House Appropriations panel overseeing FEMA and homeland security, the North Carolina Democrat admits some frustration. “We had hoped this administration would be better in presenting the Homeland budget, and in many ways they are. But in this case, the funds are inadequate, and they are buying trouble down the road.”
Prior to the spring recess, the House approved the added $5.1 billion requested for FEMA this year, but Democrats also threw in $600 million more for a summer jobs program — a decision that could slow passage in the Senate.
The full $600 million is offset on paper by rescinding prior appropriations. But these are often not true savings, since the money — such as $361.8 million from a nutrition program — wasn’t expected to be spent in any case.
When all is said and done, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) predicted Wednesday that the FEMA package could end up in the also-delayed war supplemental bill — a debate that could run into June.
The core pieces of that war bill already include $33 billion for the troop buildup under way in Afghanistan and $4.5 billion for related foreign aid and State Department civilian operations.
The administration is also seeking $2.8 billion to assist in Haiti’s recovery from the devastating earthquake. But some liberal House Democrats are pressing to have the Afghanistan-related money treated separately because of their opposition to the war.
“Nothing has coalesced yet,” Hoyer told POLITICO after leadership discussions and a White House meeting Wednesday. But one scenario would be for the House to pass a relatively clean war funding bill, and then have the Senate add Haiti, FEMA and likely other requests related to Native American and black farmer settlements with the government.
Such a package could easily approach $50 billion: another reason Democrats argue that it would be good for the House and Senate to first pass a budget resolution.
And lost in the shuffle is this footnote:
The Haiti funding request was sent up to Congress only last month because the White House wanted to keep it for the war supplemental — and thereby attract liberal votes. The fear had been that if it came earlier, it would be tacked onto the faster-moving FEMA package.
No reason to worry about that anymore.
