FEMA Disaster Funds ‘Rapidly Nearing Exhaustion’

The Federal Emergency Management’s Agency disaster relief is “rapidly nearing exhaustion,” Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, told a committee Wednesday.

“Every state in the nation has had a disaster declared in recent years and has relied on FEMA for response and recovery, including several Maine communities affected by last year’s winter storms,” she said during a Senate Appropriations Committee as part of a broader hearing on national disaster needs, adding the disaster relief fund is “rapidly nearing exhaustion.”

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell during the hearing said that “in just one month, we saw over 2.4 million households register for assistance, breaking records set during previous catastrophic storms,” adding that the agency has already provided “more than $7.8 billion in federal assistance for hurricanes Helene and Milton.”