White House warns of hits to disaster recovery efforts if government shuts down

The White House warned Thursday that nearly 2,000 long-term disaster recovery projects would be delayed in the event of a government shutdown, for which a Saturday deadline looms.

The administration said in a memo that the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster Relief Fund (DRF), which President Biden has supported increased funding for, would be impacted by a shutdown. In that event, nearly 2,000 long-term recovery projects in communities across the U.S. would be delayed, it said, like rebuilding efforts in Tennessee after a deadly tornado.

Other projects that would be delayed, according to the White House, are rebuilding a senior citizen building in New Jersey following Hurricane Ida and Hurricane Ian recovery efforts in Florida. The memo also claimed a government shutdown would undermine preparedness for future emergencies.

“An Extreme Republican Shutdown would also undermine communities’ preparedness by preventing fire departments from accessing funding necessary to retain firefighters and purchase equipment, halting first responder training, and jeopardizing access to grants for disaster and terrorism preparedness,” the memo states.

The memo also highlights states with the most projects that would be delayed, including Florida’s 272 projects, Louisiana’s 222, Kentucky’s 122 projects, New York’s 214 projects, Puerto Rico’s 188, and California’s 78 projects.

Biden has accused Republicans of not abiding by a debt ceiling agreement he made with Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in May. Under that deal, lawmakers voted for legislation that set ceilings on spending for the next fiscal year, but some House conservatives are now demanding those levels be further slashed.

The Senate advanced a bipartisan continuing resolution on Tuesday night in an effort to prevent a shutdown, but McCarthy told members of his conference on Wednesday morning that he will not bring that resolution to the floor for a vote after some House conservatives lined up against it.

The White House, in the memo on Thursday, called out House Republicans for not voting on that bill.

“Their partisan approach stands in stark contrast to the Senate’s bipartisan progress towards keeping the government open and making a down payment on disaster relief funding,” the memo states.