FEMA taps billions for disasters, warning Democrats of ‘dire’ shutdown impact

The Trump administration spent more than half of the balance in the nation’s disaster relief fund this week, pointing to that dwindling aid as means to pressure Democrats into yielding in DHS funding negotiations.

A FEMA spokesperson said Friday that the agency sent out more than $5 billion this week for recovery projects, including for disasters “that happened more than 15 years ago.” The withdrawal substantially shrinks cash in the disaster coffer that held $9.6 billion as of last week and appears to contradict Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s weekend announcement that FEMA “is scaling back to bare-minimum, life-saving operations only.”

Accusing Democrats of “playing political games” with disaster aid amid the DHS shutdown, the FEMA spokesperson warned of “dire consequences” as the disaster relief fund “is being rapidly depleted.”

It has been almost two weeks since DHS funding lapsed, and still top lawmakers and the White House are trading offers on policies to curtail the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics, which Democrats are demanding as a condition of voting to fully restore agency operations.

Republicans delivered a private counteroffer late Thursday, 10 days after Democrats on Capitol Hill sent their last proposal. A White House official granted anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations also cited diminished disaster relief Friday, challenging Democrats to “make a move … before more Americans are harmed.”

Some Democrats on Capitol Hill have offered plans to fund FEMA and other non-immigration agencies at DHS amid the negotiations over immigration enforcement policy. But top Republicans have rejected that idea.