NEWS
Biden Asks Congress For Additional $4 Billion in FEMA Funding After String Of Disasters
Courtesy of fema/Instagram
President Joe Biden is asking Congress to approve an additional $4 billion in funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster Relief Fund, following major disaster declarations in several states due to Hurricane Idalia and the recent Maui wildfires.
Biden visited FEMA headquarters on Thursday to address the staff, and thank them for their nonstop work amid back-to-back weather emergencies across the country.
The additional $4 billion in funding would increase the Disaster Relief Fund to a total budget of $16 billion.
“Every American expects FEMA will show up … in the middle of a disaster. And I’m calling on Congress to make sure you’re able and have the funds to be able to continue to show up and meet the needs of the American people to deal with immediate crises that we’re facing right now, as well as the long-term commitments that we have to make to finish the job in Maui and elsewhere,” Biden told FEMA staff in remarks on Thursday.
Extreme weather events “just keep piling up,” Biden said.
“There’s still some deniers out there in terms of whether or not climate change had anything to do with any of this, and we’re going to need a whole hell of a lot more money to deal with emergency appropriations, to deal with all you’re taking care of,” Biden said.
So far in 2023, FEMA said there have been 89 disaster declarations, and the agency has responded to 30 fire incidents. Current disasters, besides the Maui wildfires and Hurricane Idalia, include flooding in Alaska and California, and severe storms in Illinois, Mississippi and Vermont.
FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell traveled to Florida on Friday to survey damage after Hurricane Idalia made landfall early Wednesday as a powerful Category 3 storm. Biden is scheduled to visit the state on Saturday.
TMX contributed to this article.
