FEMA Funding and Bullshit Social Media
One of my greatest wishes, borne out of frustration, is that people would actually take the time to a) research before resharing, b) logically analyze the likelihood or believability of what they post, and c) consider that there ARE layers and nuance to most things in life.
For example: the FEMA story, wrt budget, on two fronts.
First, there has been all sorts of rhetoric from the right about FEMA funding illegals and doing so at the expense of actual citizens. There are layers of truth here. Technically, FEMA received a transfer of funds from DHS to cover immigrants through the SSP program, so TECHNICALLY FEMA didn't raid the money set aside for disaster relief. HOWEVER, the reality and truth of the situation is both more complex and yet straightforward. The current administration "found" funding from DHS to FEMA for illegal immigrants, yet can't "find" more money for disaster relief, arguing that Congress didn't fund them sufficiently. This running concurrent with billions of aid sent abroad and timed (because this administration is completely fucking clueless) horribly when they announce aid for Lebanon in the millions. The simplicity here is this: different pockets, same pair of pants.
Second, I'm seeing a lot of stories about Republicans not funding an increase in FEMA's budget, thus trying to hold them accountable for the shortfall, and leveraging that as a reason not to vote Republican. This is such a narrowly focused argument that deliberately steps you OUT of the big picture. It's a misrepresentation, and a lazy one at that, to attempt to name and shame Republicans who voted against funding bills and continuing resolutions, as they are entire funding models. This story is so intellectually lazy that it shocks the conscience, as it deliberately obfuscates the nuance here. Reality is that the funding model is for ALL federal government activities, and INSIDE that is the line item for FEMA programs.
Ok, so let's lay out some FACTS:
FEMA's budget (inside the larger federal government budget) was a total of $30.2 billion dollars. FEMA set aside 19.1 billion of that for disaster relief
This included both funds for both catastrophic ($16.2B) and non-catastrophic (Preparedness Porgrams $2.9B)
Assistance programs were allocated almost $9B, which included funding for the Shelter and Service Program (SSP) which was "transferred" from DHS budget to FEMAs (left pocket, right pocket, same pair of pants).
Lastly, $2.1B was for internal operations (staff, etc).
By October, with Helene and Milton hitting so hard, and close together, FEMA spent $9B of that $20.61B and flagged that they were going to potentially run out of money.
Bear in mind that the federal government’s fiscal year begins in October, so all of the funding should have been decided then, and then each administrative agency works with what they’re given.
However, because of how politicized and polarized the budgeting process is, the federal government (Congress) has kept kicking the can down the road, rather than pass an annual budget, we’ve been operating under Continuing Resolutions (CR) (stopgap spending) since September of 2019. You heard that right: we’ve not passed a full year funding budget in FIVE years.
In those stop-gap, continuing resolutions, Congress takes it up holistically; it’s not a line by line approval. In other words, our elected representatives vote on the FULL continuing resolution after arguing/negotiating on details. This means that while SOME may not agree with the funding levels of certain line items, it’s MISLEADING to paint all of those who vote against a CR as voting against a singular line item.
The bottom line here is that we live in an age where INFORMATION is at your fingertips, but FACTS require just a little more digging. The partisanship that we face as American citizens is a division that is of politicians manufacture, but we embrace it and eat it up, “trusting” they’re telling the truth. They are not. They need the division and rhetoric to stay in power, and we give them that power over us. Before you share something on any of the socials, stop. Ask yourself does it make sense? Then go CONFIRM the facts. With a little bit of digging, and the use of AI tools (which DO have bias being plugged into them, so be careful), you can overcome the partisan rhetoric and not look like a fucking dumbass because you shared a meme that was completely inaccurate and misleading.