Nation’s disaster relief agency FEMA says it is nearly broke

Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – FEMA officials say they are not sure they will have enough money to help all the victims who suffered losses from Hurricane Irene this weekend.

A bad economy coupled with a string of costly disasters and political wrangling over the nation’s budget has left the Federal Emergency Management Agency nearly broke.

That means FEMA might not have the money to help communities and individuals hit by disasters in the future.

FEMA is the agency that responds when disasters such as tornadoes, hurricanes, flooding or wildfires cause widespread destruction in one or more communities.

However, it takes money to respond to emergencies, and FEMA has only $800,000 on hand. Although the agency can pay for emergency repairs, it does not have enough money to take on long-term projects.

Examples of long-term projects include rebuilding the schools, roads and other structures that were damaged or destroyed in recent tornadoes in places like Joplin, Missouri.

FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate said Monday that he was not sure the agency had enough money on hand to help victims of Hurricane Irene. Irene caused damage with extensive flooding in heavily populated areas from North Carolina to Vermont over the weekend.

Fugate said it was important for the US Congress to appropriate additional funds for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30 as well as increase appropriations for the 2012 fiscal year.

However, there is a sticking point.

Republican lawmakers have said that they favor giving FEMA more to deal with emergencies. However, they have also said they want to make sure that any additional money for to deal with disasters is cut from other programs instead of coming from new funding.

That has left the appropriations bill for FEMA, which is included in the appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security, hung up in the US Senate. FEMA, Democrats and the Obama administration have said they do not want to pit disaster victims against other Americans for assistance.

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