Some Democratic lawmakers are concerned about the ongoing impacts of funding changes to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA. The concern about the agency's ability to help states recover from natural disasters lingers amid a partial government shutdown which has suspended funding for several agencies under the Department of Homeland Security.
At a news conference in Las Vegas, Sen. Catherine Cortez-Masto, a Democrat from Nevada, spoke about the impasse between Democrats and Republicans over establishing safeguards for how immigration enforcement is conducted by federal agencies.
She also said that previous cuts to agencies like FEMA have reduced government services, alleging that the Trump administration has played politics by rescinding previously appropriated funds earmarked for disaster relief.
"What we have been watching this past year is an administration who takes that money that we have appropriated and instead of giving it to everybody dealing with their natural disaster, he's picking winners and losers," Cortez-Masto said.
Some communities lost disaster mitigation assistance when FEMA's Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities Program was terminated last spring. Officials in Arizona and Colorado recently joined 20 states in a lawsuit opposing the cuts to this program.
The Trump administration said in a statement posted on the program's site last year that the program was "wasteful" and "more concerned with political agendas than helping Americans recover from natural disasters."
Sen. Cortez-Masto's office says the administration is withholding over $10 billion in federal disaster funds and it is now requiring stricter approval requests from the Department of Homeland Security, which it alleges slows down the disbursement process.
The department has also been sued for attempting to divert funds for immigration efforts. The Senator's office says New Mexico, Nevada, and Arizona are among the states which joined this lawsuit.
"So, there's federal FEMA funding that needs to get out to a state and several jurisdictions that this administration deems Democratic and it's not going there," Cortez-Masto said.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio, KJZZ in Arizona and NPR, with additional support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
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