Republican members of the U.S. Home Committee on Homeland Safety have launched an investigation into the alleged misuse of Federal Emergency Administration Company funds by Division of Homeland Safety Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
DHS, which has oversight of FEMA, has directed that billions of {dollars} of FEMA funds be used to pay for meals, housing, transportation and different companies for unlawful border crossers.
FEMA in recent times additionally has prioritized range, fairness and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, The Heart Sq. reported.
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The committee is demanding solutions from Mayorkas after on Oct. 2 he stated FEMA “does not have the funds, to make it through the [hurricane] season.”
Mayorkas made the remarks after the Class 4 Hurricane Helene made landfall on Sept. 26 and proceeded to trigger destruction for 500 miles, inflicting an estimated $47.5 billion in damages in 16 states, excluding lack of life. Helene significantly devastated parts of the states of Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. Hurricane Milton, a class 3 hurricane, subsequent hit Florida on Oct. 8, inflicting as much as $2.5 billion in agricultural damages alone, based on state estimates.
At an Oct. 11 press convention, Mayorkas stated greater than $350 million in FEMA help was distributed to assist Helene survivors, “with millions more going out every day.”
By Oct. 16, the White Home introduced the Biden-Harris administration had accepted greater than $1.8 billion in help for hurricane restoration efforts, with greater than $911 million in already accepted help for Helene survivors. Almost 8,000 federal personnel “remain on the ground working side-by-side with state and local officials to help survivors with recovery and rebuilding,” the White Home stated.
Home committee Republicans stated in a letter to Mayorkas that any FEMA “funding shortfall is extremely disconcerting” as a result of Individuals impacted by the lethal hurricanes “face dire circumstances while the Biden-Harris administration may have unwisely and irresponsibly focused funding requests for other FEMA activities.” In addition they stated Congress had met or exceeded appropriation requests for FEMA’s Catastrophe Aid Fund, with $61.2 billion allotted in fiscal years 2023 and 2024.
Scrutiny comes after in fiscal years 2023 and 2024, FEMA disbursed greater than $1.4 billion of taxpayer cash by means of grants to states, native governments and nongovernmental organizations to pay for companies for unlawful border crossers by means of its Emergency Meals and Shelter Program-Humanitarian Program (EFSP) and Shelter and Providers Program (SSP).
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Congress created the EFSP in 1983, later approved it beneath a 1987 homeless help act, and has funded it since fiscal 1995, based on the Congressional Analysis Service. Funds are alleged to be prioritized to assist the homeless, unemployed and extra lately have been prioritized for “communities most affected by the influx of migrants,” CRS says.
Below the Trump administration, Congress put aside $25 million, 83.3%, of the EFSP funding by means of supplemental appropriation for southern border state native recipient organizations (LROs).
A March 2023 DHS Inspector Normal report discovered that beneath the Biden-Harris administration, the LROs weren’t at all times utilizing the newest batch of $110 million in funds they obtained as supposed by statute. The LROs “did not always provide the required receipts or documentation for claimed reimbursements” and “were unable to provide supporting documentation” for a way the cash was spent, the Workplace of the Inspector Normal discovered.
By statute, six personal nonprofit organizations govern the allocation of EFSP funds: the American Crimson Cross, Catholic Charities U.S.A., the Council of Jewish Federations, Inc., the Nationwide Council of Church buildings of Christ in the usA., the Salvation Military, and the United Manner of America, CRS notes.
Congress continues to fund DHS and FEMA packages, together with within the newest Sept. 26 persevering with decision, allocating $20 billion to FEMA’s Catastrophe Aid Fund. A latest FEMA advisory states that doing so enabled it to “begin processing obligations of approximately $9 billion for over 3,000 paused projects” to assist “communities, schools, and hospitals across the nation recover from and mitigate against disasters.”
“Due to the uncertainty of receiving additional funding, and if current spending rates hold, the agency projects it will reimplement INF before the end of the calendar year,” FEMA stated. It’s referring to Speedy Wants Funding restrictions it put in place “to preserve critical resources necessary for lifesaving and life sustaining activities against a rapidly depleting Disaster Relief Fund balance.”
In the newest omnibus handed by Congress, “roughly $650 million was directed away from U.S. Customs and Border Protection to FEMA to fund the SSP,” the committee says.
“In last year’s supplemental spending request alone, which House Republicans roundly rejected, the Biden-Harris administration asked for $1.4 billion in new funds for the SSP,” the committee stated.
The committee gave Mayorkas a deadline of Oct. 25 to offer info it requested associated to FEMA catastrophe restoration efforts, together with the EFSP and SSP.
Syndicated with permission from The Heart Sq..
