Disaster Advocates Send Letter to Senate Leadership Urging Pause on DHS Funding; Stressing FEMA Funds are Sufficient at This Time

By Noah Patton, NLIHC Director of Disaster Recovery 

The NLIHC-led Disaster Housing Recovery Coalition delivered a letter on January 29 to Senators John Thune (R-SD) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY), urging a pause on U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding, given recent, concerning actions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) across the country. High-profile negotiations over the DHS Appropriations bill concluded later that day, with the Senate subsequently removing the bill from a government spending package, agreeing to fund the agency at current levels before revisiting the issue in two weeks.

The Disaster Housing Recovery Coalition (DHRC) is an NLIHC-led group of over 900 local, state, and national organizations working to ensure that all disaster survivors receive the assistance they need to fully recover.  

Negotiations around the pause of DHS funding included concerns from lawmakers that any action may adversely impact the ability of FEMA to respond to disasters—including the recent Winter Storm Fern. However, with approximately $9 billion currently in FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund, the agency would be able to respond adequately to disasters given the length of time before the 2026 Wildfire and Hurricane season begins in Spring. In addition, given the essential status of the majority of FEMA’s workforce, agency personnel would respond to disasters regardless of funding levels.  

The letter also stressed that, if need arises, Congress has passed emergency disaster supplemental spending bills in the past, topping up FEMA’s operating fund and also providing long-term recovery dollars via HUD, the latter of which continues to be desperately needed by southern California as it recovers from the destructive LA Wildfires in early 2025.  

“The DHRC recognizes that ICE and CBP's actions and the rationale officials have provided to defend and fund them, particularly rhetoric around funding the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), all undermine the minimally necessary conditions for just public policy in the areas of affordable housing, income inequality, and disaster housing recovery” reads a portion of the letter. “Concerns around FEMA funding should not be used to justify approving the FY26 DHS appropriations bill in its current form. Given its roster of essential workers and current funding levels, FEMA will be able to continue its mission in the short-term while Congress renegotiates the DHS spending bill.”