The director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said the agency has enough resources to deal with Hurricane Milton, expected to slam into Florida’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday, as well as dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
“We don’t have enough money to continue throughout the rest of the year,” she said, adding that her agency has been “able to anticipate last year, this year, and even going into next year, that we are not going to have enough to pay all of the recovery bills.”
Criswell reiterated that FEMA does “have enough funds to absolutely get through the response for this hurricane, as well as the continued response for Hurricane Helene.”
“I have the full authorization to spend against the president’s fiscal year ‘25 budget,” she said. “And we will continue to meet the needs of the individuals that are impacted by these storms.
“But we don’t have enough money to continue throughout the rest of the year. And we went into immediate needs funding earlier in the year to make sure we can do just what we’ve been doing through Helene, as well as now the preparations for Milton.”
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, whose department oversees FEMA, said this week that the agency will be able to respond to both Helene and Milton.
Mayorkas asserted that FEMA can handle several crises at the same time, saying, “We have the personnel” and that “FEMA likes to say it is FEMA flexible. We can respond to multiple events at a single time.
“And everybody should rest confident that FEMA has the resources.
“We already have 900 personnel deployed, pre-positioned in Florida, who were responding to Hurricane Helene, people who were responding previously to Hurricanes Idalia and Debby,” he added. “We are there. We have search and rescue teams; the Army Corps of Engineers are there. We are ready.”
Questions about FEMA’s response to Helene were raised earlier this month amid reports of significant damage across western North Carolina and previous comments from Mayorkas that FEMA is running out of money.
“We are meeting the immediate needs with the money that we have,” Mayorkas told reporters this past week. “FEMA does not have the funds to make it through the season.”
Some Republicans have pointed to an April announcement from FEMA that the agency would provide funding for possibly illegal immigrants who recently came into the United States.
Criticism from Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, over FEMA’s response to Helene has drawn pushback from Criswell and the agency, who have claimed they are spreading false information.
President Joe Biden told congressional leaders this past week that they should provide more funding to FEMA, writing that “immediate needs” can be taken care of, but “the fund does face a shortfall at the end of the year.”
There have been reports, meanwhile, from North Carolina residents who have claimed that FEMA has blocked off roads or has not provided enough relief in Helene’s aftermath.
The Epoch Times, which could not independently verify those claims, has contacted FEMA for comment on several of those reports over the past weekend but received no response.
