The Federal Emergency Management Agency is making nearly $1 billion in disaster preparedness and homeland security funding available to communities nationwide, just one week after CNN reported on the agency’s proposed plan to slash the programs at the direction of the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA.
In a notice sent to states Friday, which CNN obtained from one of the states, FEMA announced it is now taking applications for more than a dozen grant programs “making nearly $1 billion available to communities across the country.”
Just days ago, those grants were on the verge of being cut, according to internal memos signed by acting FEMA administrator David Richardson and approved by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, CNN reported last week.
“This announcement comes after a critical evaluation of all grant programs and recipients to root out waste, fraud, and abuse and deliver accountability for the American taxpayer,” the notice states. “Unlike the previous administration, recipients of grants will no longer be permitted to use federal funds to house illegal immigrants at luxury hotels, fund climate change pet projects, or empower radical organizations with unseemly ties that don’t serve the interest of the American people.”
In a statement to CNN, DHS confirmed the plans to release the funding but called the notion that it reversed course “a load of hogwash.”
The funds are being released following a thorough review of grant programs, it said, and “will enable states to manage their preparation for disasters like fires, floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, as well as incidents like terrorist attacks or massive cyber disruptions.”
It remains unclear why FEMA decided to release the funds this week after issuing internal memos last week stating that it was seeking to eliminate the programs — a move that would have required approval from the White House budget office and Congress.
However, those memos acknowledged in stark terms the potential risks of cutting the programs.
The loss of one program that helps communities plan and train for disasters would “leave state and local governments more vulnerable to catastrophic incidents,” one memo stated. Ending another that bolsters transportation infrastructure and terrorism protections would “contradict the administration’s commitment to a safer and more secure country,” the memo said.
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