In all the reporting about Puerto Rico, I’m seeing a lot of blame directed at the administration and FEMA for the ongoing misery there. Yet all the reports of misery stem from a few things that I’m pretty sure have nothing to do with FEMA or any other existing government program that the administration can administer(or maladminister).
Electricity: FEMA is not a utility.
Water: FEMA is not a utility.
Homes destroyed: FEMA is not a homebuilder.
What I know FEMA does is hand out relief supplies, assess damage, coordinate efforts to save people in peril to some extent(Along with police, national guard, etc.), and I think I read that they help with some kinds of financial relief? Unclear on that one.
So exactly what are FEMA’s responsibilities in a disaster, other than what I mentioned?
From its website, “FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from and mitigate all hazards.”
That’s vague, I know. But perhaps that’s deliberate.
Well, check out the name: federal emergency Management agency.
Their official role is to manage the national response to emergencies. Not provide direct help.
One thing they are most definitely not-life savers. There aren’t any FEMA helicopters or boats. No brave FEMA first responders. They don’t have people to run evacuation centers. Not their job. They show up after all that is done.
They are primarily a funding agency. When there is a disaster, FEMA rushes in with a checkbook and a roledex. The quality of each is never good enough.
Electricity out? FEMA will fund the local utility to fix it and knows who to call to get outside help-paid for by FEMA. Security a problem? If the National Guard isn’t the answer (it wasn’t in New Orleans after Katrina), FEMA can coordinate bringing in law enforcement personnel from other states. Was your roof damaged? FEMA has some tarps and the Corps of Engineers hires people to come out and cover the holes.
Note one common demominator here: FEMA personnel don’t do anything directly to fix problems. They manage and pay for the response.
Local and state governments don’t have the resources to pay for emergencies-they like low taxes and can’t carry debt forever like the feds.
Oh, there is one very important thing that FEMA does, it is critical to the emergency response. They are the fall guy for the problems. Problems happen in an emergency. That is pretty much the definition. Someone has to take the blame. The local and state governments don’t want to do that. So FEMA is the designated fall guy. It is pretty much in their charter. They don’t cause the problems, obviously, but they take the blame. This works because after all they are the ones with the checkbook, so while people criticize them it isn’t too harsh and certainly no one punishes them. One does not bite the hand that feeds you and all that.
But even funding can’t be provided by them without an Act of Congress, correct? The scale of the Puerto Rico disaster is certainly not within their budget. Has Congress appropriated sufficient money?
I’m just trying to get at whether this is a failure of Congress or an administrative failure. If FEMA Is doing all it can within it’s budget, that’s not FEMA’s fault and it’s not the President’s faults, despite his ability to screw almost everything up. That would fall at the feet of Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell.
FEMA actually maintains a standing disaster relief fund which can be drawn down in times of disaster. If there’s a really big disaster, they can request additional appropriations to replenish the fund.
FEMA doesn’t have a budget in the normal federal sense. Well, they do to pay the administrator and office staff, but the $ they spend in an emergency are not budgeted. There is a ceiling as mentioned by friedo, but not a budget. Each emergency is different so no budget is really possible.
Of course no money can be spent by any agency of government without the consent of congress-thats in the constitution.
Congress gives it’s consent by setting a ceiling and setting rules. Quaint things like expecting the local governments to pay back a small part of the loans they get from FEMA. Of course they never pay-they run off to congress and plead poverty so that congress either forgives the loans (they did that this last go around) or extends them indefinitely at no interest. But FEMA spends money on whatever they feel is needed and can be squeezed into the rules. And sometimes they simply ignore their own rules. Usually after a few calls from the right congressperson.
As for Tommy Lee, I am sure I remember him running around putting out those fires with his trusty rolodex…
