Who is Going to Pay for FEMA?
Matt Mayer /
Looks like Mother Nature didn’t get the message about the budget crises in most of the states. So, she twice dumped a bunch of snow on the Midwest and East that required states, cities, and counties to plow – in between frantic calls to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for reinforcements.
The calls prompted FEMA to fire-up its fleet of snowplows and dispatch its army of snow shovel crews. Not really. FEMA doesn’t have snowplows or snow shovel crews, so why the frantic calls to Washington? Answer: FEMA has money and, when it declares a disaster, it pays for 75 percent or more of the costs. So, the calls to FEMA are really about getting taxpayers outside of the impacted states to subsidize the snow removal costs in the Midwest and East.
Unfortunately, this cost-shifting move by governors isn’t new. In 1993, FEMA started issuing a greater number of declarations for natural disasters that historically had been handled and paid for entirely by the states. Like most things, we have federalized routine natural disasters in America so that Washington subsidizes virtually every flood, fire, or tornado. (more…)