By Jose A. Delgado
Washington DC – President Joe Biden today, Friday, raised to $16,000 million the request to Congress to fill the fund to attend disasters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is depleted in the middle of the Hurricane season.
Biden’s request increases the funds requested last month by $4 billion, in view of the upcoming resumption of work in Congress.
Biden made his request after the devastation caused in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina by Hurricane Idalia, and in Maui, Hawaii, by wildfires.
“The president has been clear that we will support communities across the country as they recover from disasters for as long as it takes, and the administration is committed to working with Congress to ensure disaster funding is sufficient to meet recovery needs. We urge Congress to take swift action on the supplemental appropriations,” said a spokesman for the White House Office of Management and Budget.
This week, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell revealed that she has decided to use the emergency fund only for “immediate needs” in the wake of recent natural disasters, which will stop reimbursement for governments and victims of previous events, such as those that occurred In Puerto Rico.
According to Criswell, FEMA’s disaster fund had $3.4 billion left as of this week’s start. Without new legislation from Congress, Criswell fears they will run out right in the middle of hurricane season.
President Biden said Wednesday that if there are not enough funds to finance the response to the current hurricane season, “I will let you know why.”
“How can we not answer? God,” Biden said, when asked about the current limitations on FEMA funds.
Biden’s request is tied to an allocation of another $24 billion to assist Ukraine in the face of a Russian military invasion. Among the most conservative, there is a clear rejection of that request and of approving a temporary extension in the current budget, which expires on September 30, without changes in public policy, including issues related to immigration and security on the border with Mexico.
On Thursday, Biden also asked Congress to pass a resolution this month that temporarily extends the budget, to avoid a partial shutdown of the federal government as of October 1.
The congressional leadership has recognized that the processing of the budget projects will not be completed on time.
But, the speaker of the lower house, the Republican Kevin McCarthy (California), will have to overcome the conditions of the most conservative around the resolution that, in the words of his ally Marjorie Taylor Greene (Georgia), must include initiating a process of impeachment against President Biden and defunding government research, as well as ruling out new allocations for Ukraine or for COVID-19 vaccines.
The Senate returns to session on Tuesday, after the long recess of August. The lower house will resume its sessions on September 12. By then, there will be only 12 session days left, before the budget expires and the federal government may have to initiate a partial office closure.
The leader of the Democratic majority of the Senate, Charles Schumer (New York), affirmed that they will focus in September “on financing the Government and preventing the Republican extremists in the House of Representatives from forcing a government shutdown.”
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