U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, D−West Palm Beach, on Friday penned a letter with other Florida congressional Democrats in urging House and Senate leaders to pass President Biden's funding request to support communities recovering from recent natural disasters.
The funding request includes $40 billion for the FEMA Disaster Relief Fund, $24 billion for the Department of Agriculture, $12 billion for HUD's block grant disaster recovery program, and $8 billion for the Department of Transportation, among other allocations.
The funding will assist families and businesses in their recovery efforts and provide grants and loans to those affected by the disasters.
“We must stand by our neighbors who have suffered devastating losses through no fault of their own, many of which are not covered by insurance,” said Frankel in a statement.
The money available to help communities hit by disasters has shrunk after back-to-back hurricanes Helene and Milton, and the funding problems might jeopardize the government's ability to respond to new emergencies in the future, the Federal Emergency Management Agency chief said Wednesday.
Deanne Criswell warned during a Senate hearing with other agency heads that FEMA's disaster relief fund — the country’s emergency checkbook — is down to less than $5 billion.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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