Following GAO’s Dual Findings that the Trump Administration Violated the Law, Sabotaging Our Safety Demands the Release of FEMA Funds
GAO finds seventh Impoundment Control Act violation this year as families face disaster relief crisis
Today, Sabotaging Our Safety issued the below statement following two reports from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) (report 1, report 2) finding that the Trump administration violated federal law by withholding congressionally-appropriated disaster relief funds for three FEMA programs – the Emergency Food and Shelter Program, the Shelter and Services Program, and the Next Generation Warning System Grants Program. The reports reveal that the administration not only delayed funding but actively revoked previously-awarded grants and withdrew money that had already been disbursed to communities providing emergency services.
Sabotaging Our Safety Advisory Council Members issued the following joint statement:
“The GAO’s back-to-back findings that the Trump administration violated the Impoundment Control Act reveal a pattern of systematic lawbreaking. As climate-driven disasters intensify and become more frequent nationwide, FEMA programs that provide critical food, shelter, temporary housing, and lifesaving emergency alerts should be boosted, not illegally neglected.
“The consequences are stark, as nonprofits are forced to do the heavy lifting without the full and promised federal supplement. For example, officials like Texas Governor Greg Abbott are staging photo ops handing out checks funded by individual donations instead of the federal disaster relief dollars that should be flowing to affected areas. It’s a government failure when some communities are relying solely on charity and private donations. Without the FEMA programs’ funding, families are left without shelter amid a severe housing affordability crisis and soaring costs for food, energy, and health care due to Trump’s failed economic policies.
“The Impoundment Control Act exists to prevent presidents from substituting their policy preferences for congressional spending decisions. When disaster relief programs become political tools, American lives hang in the balance. This pattern of violations represents a fundamental attack on the rule of law and constitutional governance. American families facing homelessness, natural disasters, and emergencies cannot wait while this administration continues to flout federal law with impunity.
“We, first, demand the administration immediately release the funding. And in the face of continued lawlessness, we call on Republican Members of Congress to join many of their Democratic counterparts in exercising their constitutional responsibility and protecting American communities, as intended.”
Recent, Related Coverage:
The Hill: GAO says Trump’s moves to withhold FEMA grants are illegal
The Trump administration violated the law when it withheld three types of grants managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) said Monday.
The GAO said FEMA’s moves to withhold the grants violated the Impoundment Control Act (ICA), which spells out the rules under which a presidential administration can seek to delay or cancel funding that’s enacted by Congress.
Bloomberg: Trump’s Holdup of FEMA Money Violates Funding Law, Watchdog Says
The Trump administration violated federal law by withholding Federal Emergency Management Agency grants in a broader review of agency spending, a government watchdog says.
The finding from the Government Accountability Office is the latest in a series of determinations that President Donald Trump disregarded the Impoundment Control Act, which limits when the president can withhold money appropriated by Congress.
Government Executive: GAO: Trump violated law for sixth time in withholding FEMA funds
Senate Appropriations Committee ranking member Patty Murray, D-Wash., wrote in a statement the latest GAO report “is another stark reminder of a fact we have known for months: President Trump is breaking the law in order to prevent communities across the country from receiving resources they have been promised, including critical funding to address homelessness.
“The same guy who says he wants to get people off the streets is blocking funding for communities to tackle homelessness. Donald Trump and Russ Vought need to immediately allow these resources to flow, and Republican lawmakers need to join us insisting every last bit of this funding gets out the door in a fair, impartial way.”
Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Ranking Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Congressman Greg Stanton (D-AZ), Ranking Member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management, today led a new letter signed by 12 Democratic Members of Congress urging President Trump to immediately fire Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Acting Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator David Richardson, citing a damning Government Accountability Office (GAO) report finding FEMA violated federal law six times under Secretary Noem.
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