House Passes Much-Needed Disaster Relief Funds in Year-End Budget Deal

WASHINGTON—The U.S. House of Representatives passed a Continuing Resolution (CR) package today—a stopgap measure to avert a shutdown by funding the federal government through March of next year—with passage by the Senate expected shortly. For areas hard-hit by recent climate-fueled disasters, the CR would offer a lifeline by replenishing $110 billion in much-needed federal disaster aid.

Below is a statement by Zoe Middleton, the associate director for just climate resilience for the Climate and Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).

“While important that Congress is expected to pass this bill with bipartisan support for disaster recovery soon, impacted communities and disaster survivors across the country have waited far too long for federal funding to move forward with their recovery efforts. The nation has recorded 95 major disaster declarations just through November this year, many of which—including floods, wildfires and intensified storms—bear the fingerprints of climate change.

“Communities need and deserve robustly funded recovery programs to get back on their feet in the weeks and months following a disaster. Allowing funding for short-term relief to run dry and making communities wait on long-term recovery assistance can push families into debt or leave them homeless and can also cause lasting economic scars on local economies.

“People across the country are losing their homes and livelihoods to the climate crisis while fossil fuel companies continue to rake in profits. In addition to passing this short-term, stopgap funding, Congress should invest in measures that prepare climate-vulnerable communities for disasters before they strike and permanently authorize Community Development Block Grants to ensure people aren’t forced into desperate straits after they’ve experienced the worst. More Americans than ever before are enduring extreme weather as dangerous and deadly warming worsens.”

Additional UCS Resources:

• FEMA Disaster Relief Fund explainer blog post.
• Visual round up and blog series of the 2024 “Danger Season,” the time roughly from May through October in the Northern Hemisphere when U.S. climate change impacts are at their peak and increasingly likely to collide with one another.

If you would like to speak with Middleton or another UCS expert, please contact UCS Climate and Energy Communications Manager Ashley Siefert Nunes.