Chairman Green on Secretary Mayorkas’ Claims About FEMA Funds: Biden-Harris Administration’s Priorities “Are Completely Backwards”

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark E. Green, MD (R-TN) released the following statement after comments by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) "does not have the funds to make it through the [hurricane] season."
"The real story here is that the Biden-Harris administration has spurned the interests of the American people since day one, pushing for hundreds of millions of FEMA dollars every year, specifically for illegal immigrants," Chairman Green said. "Last year, House Republicans eliminated this spending in the FY24 DHS appropriations bill, only for the Democrat-controlled Senate and White House to fight to add it back to the omnibus spending bill.
"This is an issue of priorities, and the Biden-Harris administration's are completely backwards. It takes a lot of nerve for Secretary Mayorkas to ask for more money after he and his bosses in the White House fought for roughly $650 million just this year for the Shelter and Services Program. Under Biden and Harris' leadership, our tax dollars are being used to help facilitate illegal immigration, while many American citizens are left to suffer following natural disasters."

Background: Mayorkas' comments came a week after the passage of a continuing resolution providing roughly $20 billion for FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund (DRF), which is used to fund the response to emergencies like Hurricane Helene. The day prior to Mayorkas' comments, FEMA published an advisory stating that the infusion of funds from the continuing resolution allowed it to lift restrictions on funding thousands of projects across the country.
Last year, House Republicans zeroed out funding for EFSP-H and SSP-only for the Senate and White House to push back. In the most recent omnibus, roughly $650 million was directed away from CBP to FEMA to fund SSP.

###