TO CLOSE

FEMA officials warn that the impact of Florence will be considerable and that recovery will take more than a few days. (September 11th)
AP

A resident of Virginia Beach, Virginia, moves a bag of sand before loading it into his truck on September 12, 2018, in Virginia Beach, Virginia, as Hurricane Florence moves to the east coast.(Photo: AP)

WASHINGTON – A senior FEMA official said the agency is well positioned to respond to Hurricane Florence, despite reports that nearly $ 10 million worth was transferred this summer to help strengthen immigration and customs control in the United States.

"We have a lot of resources to answer, we have a lot of resources to recover," said Jeff Byard, FEMA Associate Administrator for Response and Recovery, Wednesday morning. "It had no impact on our situation."

Sen. Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat, shared documents detailing the transfer to MSNBC on Tuesday night, as Hurricane Florence hit the shores of North Carolina and South Carolina.

Merkley told USA TODAY Tuesday night that the transfer was "incredibly irresponsible".

After the ravages of last year's storms – the triple defeat of hurricanes Maria, Harvey and Irma – FEMA should have the funds to prepare for another catastrophic hurricane season.

"It is almost guaranteed that this will happen again," said Merkley, a member of the Senate Credits Committee, who oversees and approves federal spending.

The transfer to the ICE is a particularly painful point for the Democrats, who fought against the administration for the detention and forced separation of immigrant families crossing the border.

"This is yet another example of the Trump administration's outrageously shifted internal security priorities," said Representative Bennie G. Thompson, D-Miss., The Democratic's largest Democrat Commission. internal security. "locking up asylum-seeking families and caging children rather than ensuring that FEMA has all the resources necessary to prepare for and respond to disasters."

The budgeting document, "Department of Homeland Security Homeland Security Transfer and Reprogramming Notices for the 2018 Fiscal Year" indicates that US $ 9,755,303 was collected by FEMA, or about 0.9% of the agency's overall budget. .

The document also shows that other agencies, including millions of the Transportation Security Administration and the US Coast Guard, have also paid out money.

FEMA, TSA, ICE and the Coast Guard are all agencies of the Department of Homeland Security.

In a tweet Tuesday evening, DHS spokesman Tyler Q. Houlton said the money came from FEMA's usual operating expenses and "could not have been used to respond to the hurricanes in because of budget restrictions.

The latest monthly disaster relief fund report shows more than $ 26.5 billion in the account as of August 31.

Byard called the amount in the fund "healthy".

"We have no worries," he said.

News of the budget transfer comes weeks after FEMA recognized the staffing and logistical challenges of last year's hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, where aging infrastructure and island terrain have complicated help. Nearly 3,000 people died in the storm and its consequences.

But FEMA's administrator, Brock Long, also said the agency was facing an unprecedented workload that included the three catastrophic hurricanes, California's historic wildfires and dozens of waterfalls. 39, other disasters. He said the agency had learned from last year and would be better prepared for dealing with disasters this year.

"It's always a question of when, not if, we'll be called again," Long wrote in a column last month for USA TODAY. "FEMA has begun integrating real-time lessons as they have been identified and continue to do so to prepare for the 2018 hurricane season. We have significantly increased resource stocks across the country, focusing on difficult places to access. "

More: With the approach of the "monster" of Florence, some will continue to defy hurricane evacuation orders

More: State by State of Hurricane Florence: See What Could Happen Where You Live

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