Exclusive / FEMA disaster relief fund nearly empty, officials say

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster Relief Fund is running low on funds amidst the government shutdown and is in danger of being completely depleted in the coming weeks without action by Congress to reopen the Department of Homeland Security, according to two senior Trump administration officials.

The administration is set to move more money out the door to disaster-afflicted areas this week that will bring the fund just below $5 billion, the officials said. The administration is warning that a large-scale disaster could deplete the fund down to zero, without any good options to replenish the account short of Congress passing a bill funding DHS.

“We’re close to the red zone … it’s getting very close,” one of the officials said. A second official said the administration has generally had far more money on-hand over the past year than they have now. Much of the East Coast was battered earlier this week by a serious winter storm and the administration is still working to deliver payments for hurricane relief from past storms.

The year-long DHS funding bill includes more than $26 billion for the Disaster Relief Fund, but Democrats say they won’t fund the department without major changes to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies. The White House and Senate Democrats exchanged offers earlier this month but negotiations are stalled; Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Wednesday “the ball is in their court.”

The shutdown looks likely to stretch into next week at this point. And the administration says it cannot temporarily replenish the account by transferring funds from the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities fund because that money is tied up in the courts.