Good afternoon from Capitol Hill.
Hurricane Helene has left a trail of devastation in its wake, ravaging the southeast from Florida up to Virginia. The 350-mile-wide storm left millions without power or clean water, and killed more than 200. Hundreds are still unaccounted for and the death count continues to rise.
All eyes have been on the response from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), whose sole mission is to assist states, cities, towns, and individuals with emergencies. According to reporting on the ground, the response from FEMA has been less than stellar.
“FEMA called me and told me they wanted to inspect my house, then called me back to say they couldn’t drive around the ‘Road Closed’ sign. They weren’t allowed,” a resident of Bat Cave, North Carolina, told The New York Post. FEMA whistleblowers told Rep. Matt Gaetz that the agency withheld emergency funds and has left employees sitting idly in hotels, awaiting direction.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced last week that FEMA lacks sufficient funds to handle the rest of the hurricane season, which lasts until December. Where has all the money gone? It turns out that FEMA has spent at least $1 billion providing support to illegal immigrants. From National Review:
The Shelter and Services Program (SSP), administered by the FEMA in partnership with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), provides financial support to non-federal entities to provide humanitarian services to “noncitizen migrants.” Between FY2023 and FY2024, at least $1 billion has been funneled into the program, according to FEMA’s website. In just 2024, over $20 million went to the NYC Office of Management and Budget.
New York City’s Department of Homeless Services has given $4,000 grants to 150 migrant families to help with the cost of transitioning from city shelters to permanent housing, according to a September report from Fox News. Eligible families can also receive up to $1,000 in gift cards for household necessities and moving expenses, according to the report. Speaking in Atlanta, Georgia Wednesday, Harris said FEMA is providing $750 in cash “for folks who need immediate needs being met” due to the storm.
The administration and its media handmaidens have claimed that the funding in SSP is separate from disaster funding – meaning that no funds earmarked for disaster were spent funding illegal migrants.
But all of this begs the obvious question: why is FEMA, the agency whose primary mandate is to show up and assist Americans at the worst point in their lives, focusing on providing services to illegal migrants at all?
This all starts to make a little more sense upon review of the agency’s emergency management blueprint, which lists three goals as part of their strategic plan to “address key challenges” in emergency management. The agency’s top goal, as elucidated in the blueprint, is to “instill equity as a foundation of emergency management.” The second goal is to “lead whole of community in climate resilience.” Finally, the third goal is to “promote and sustain a ready FEMA and prepared nation.”
As has been made painfully obvious in North Carolina and other states, an agency which thinks its primary mission is “equity” is never going to be prepared to respond swiftly and competently to devastation. FEMA is completely unmoored from its mission and captured by progressive interests.
Over the weekend some conservative commentators responded to the frustration with the FEMA response by pointing out that the government will always fail, so relying on it in times like these is a fool’s errand.
There is, of course, wisdom in that statement. The government will never “save” us. Not only is it impossible, it’s not the American way. And you can see that in the tremendous response to this disaster from individuals, churches, and private organizations. When disaster strikes, Americans don’t wait for the government. We show up for each other.
But there is another truth, too, and that is that our tax dollars fund FEMA, and we should expect it, at a bare minimum, to function as intended. And when it fails – and not only that, when it is revealed to be so fundamentally broken as to think crowing about “equity” is a sufficient response to a natural disaster – it is also an appropriately American response to be ticked off about it.
At some point, the social contract between the government and individuals breaks down when the money we send to fund our vast government is not spent toward services for citizens, or worse, actively used to do us harm. Congress is the body that funds these agencies, and the case has been made time and again that the corruption, capture, and waste will simply continue unless or until Congress makes it stop.
The Latest From Around The Conservative Movement
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- America’s young men are falling even further behind
- The race to replace Mitch McConnell as Senate GOP leader is well underway
- Sen. Mike Lee lays out his demands for McConnell’s successor
One More Thing…
In a new report, America First Legal and Parents Defending Education reveal more details on Attorney Merrick Garland’s war on parents. Read it here.