Senior Democrats in the House assailed the Trump administration Wednesday for canceling almost $11 billion in disaster payments to states, arguing that it was a deceptive effort to conceal the financial fragility of federal aid for catastrophes.
POLITICO’s E&E News reported Tuesday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency delayed $10.9 billion in payments to 45 states in August and September, when the agency was supposed to reimburse them for emergency expenses related to the pandemic. FEMA indicated that it would make the payments sometime in fiscal 2026, which began on Oct. 1, but provided no details.
“They are playing games with critical disaster relief dollars. The American people deserve a FEMA that honors its commitments, not one that hides shortfalls through accounting tricks and delayed help,” wrote Reps. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi and Tim Kennedy of New York. Thompson is the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, and Kennedy is the top Democrat on a subcommittee that oversees FEMA.
They said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is “using disaster survivors as pawns to conceal FEMA’s mismanagement and avoid seeking the supplemental funding they know will be needed this year or next.” The Department of Homeland Security oversees FEMA.
