As Disaster Relief Fund Runs Dry, Murray Again Calls on House Republicans to Pass DHS Funding Bill

With only $1.6 billion remaining in the Disaster Relief Fund (DRF), today FEMA implemented Immediate Needs Funding (INF), which suspends all disaster relief expenditures that are not lifesaving or life-sustaining

Senate-passed DHS funding bill would provide $26.4 billion to replenish the DRF-but Speaker Johnson has failed to put it up for a vote for over a month

Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) implementing Immediate Needs Funding (INF) today for the Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) as the balance of the fund dwindles to just $1.6 billion. Under INF, FEMA prevents all disaster relief resources from going out the door unless they are lifesaving or life-sustaining.

"As we head into hurricane season, the Disaster Relief Fund is nearly dry-and House Republicans are continuing to hold up a bill that would replenish it.

"Families who've already suffered the unimaginable shouldn't have to wait for recovery resources because House Republicans refuse to do their job and fund FEMA. It's past time the Speaker puts the DHS funding bill up for a vote."

The DHS funding bill that unanimously passed the Senate on March 27 and then again on April 2 would provide $26.4 billion to replenish the DRF. But despite vowing on April 1 to fund DHS "in the coming days," Speaker Johnson has blocked disaster relief funding by failing to put the bill up for a vote for well over a month.

Under President Trump, the Disaster Relief Fund has been grossly mismanaged and used as a political cudgel-breaking with all previous precedent-and that includes during the current shutdown of DHS.

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