The Biden administration’s request for additional disaster aid would provide barely enough money to cover costs in 2025 and could force the aid to be restricted during the peak of next hurricane season, a new budget analysis shows.
Congress is debating President Joe Biden’s broad emergency funding request, which includes $40 billion to replenish the dwindling disaster fund run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
A new FEMA report shows the Disaster Relief Fund would need an additional $38.8 billion to remain solvent through the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, 2025. The fund now has $4 billion in reserves and is projected to have a $5.4 billion deficit at the end of January.
The report raises the prospect that even if Congress fully funds Biden’s request — a topic being debated this week — FEMA will have to again restrict disaster spending as it has done the past two summers and ask Congress to approve more aid again before the fiscal year ends Sept. 30.
