Both Republicans and Democrats signed off on a budget deal earlier this year that increased funding for FEMA’s immigration programs that are now under scrutiny as the agency faces crisis over weak hurricane response.
In the midst of the last major budget crisis in Washington, Democrats diverted money and the legal authority to put the nation’s disaster relief agency into the business of caring for the millions of illegal immigrants who crossed the border on the Biden-Harris administration’s watch. And now both parties seem to be trying to obfuscate the truth.
White House spokeswoman Karine-Jean Pierre took the lead in trying to suggest it was a “conspiracy theory” to suggest the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was using its resources to aid illegal aliens. Republicans countered with surprise and shock that FEMA had routed $640.9 million in grants to nonprofits aiding immigrants, many of whom have crossed into the U.S. illegally.
But the truth is both parties signed off on a budget deal earlier this year that increased funding for the new mission authorized in 2023 for FEMA, which is now reeling from a double-barreled hurricane crisis that has led to frustration over alleged missteps by the agency as millions of stranded and needy Americans in the Southeast await help.
“FEMA, as well as this whole Biden administration has is here to protect Americans, our citizens, and hurricane Helene has put a tremendous burden on us, but, get this, follow these funds that have been directed at anything but Americans: $110 million in FEMA funds went to the emergency food and shelter program to assist migrants,” Congressman Ralph Norman, R-S.C., told the “Just the News, No Noise” TV show Monday.
Norman partly blamed the broken budget process in Congress for giving funds to FEMA for immigrants rather than American citizens suffering from a disaster.
“If we don’t get back to regular order, John, then there’s no hope for ever having a fiscal sanity plan in place,” he said. “They, the Democrats, play us like a drum waiting to the end of the year.”
Now, Republicans have placed the program under a spotlight after widespread flooding and damage from Hurricane Helene left several southeastern regions devastated and tens of thousands of citizens without basic resources. But, so far, few who originally supported the bill have owned up to their role in passing the budget stopgaps last year funding the very programs being placed under the spotlight.
A group of Senators who did not vote for the funding measure led by James Lankford of Oklahoma, wrote a letter to President Biden last week raising concerns about how FEMA’s immigration responsibilities could be impacting its disaster readiness.
“FEMA’s continued entanglement in DHS’s efforts to respond to the border crisis could impact its readiness and emergency response mission,” a group of Republican lawmakers wrote to Biden last week. “Rather than ensuring FEMA is ready to respond to hurricanes and other emergencies, FEMA has been pulled into a border crisis mission.”
“FEMA’s mission is ‘helping people before, during, and after disasters,’ not helping DHS clean up the impact of your Administration’s reckless border policies,” they added.
Read more at Justthenews.com
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