About that FEMA money that isn’t available because it was given to illegals
Here are some details:
The FEMA Emergency Food and Shelter Program (ESFP). The FEMA migrant-spending program began as an offshoot of a Reagan-era plan called the Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP). EFSP had the goal of providing aid to homeless Americans, most notably the elderly, handicapped, families with kids, Native Americans, and (especially) veterans.
That was essentially where ESFP funding went until a border crisis in the late spring and early summer of 2019. More than 111,000 adult migrants travelling with children in “family units” (FMUs) and unaccompanied alien children (UACs) crossed the border illegally that May, and President Trump needed additional money to get the kids out of CBP facilities.
One would assume money for needy migrant children would have prompted a rapid bipartisan response, but congressional Democrats left Trump twisting in the political wind for weeks before they gave him the funding he needed. …
Trump asked for ESFP to be ended in his FY 2020 and FY 2021 budget requests as duplicative of other federal activities, but as Reagan himself explained, “a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth”. Consequently, ESFP received $125 million in FY 2020 and $130 million in FY 2021.
After taking office, President Biden pushed for and received spending legislation called the “American Rescue Plan” (ARP).
ARP appropriated $400 million for what FEMA termed “regular EFSP” (the one Reagan approved), and an additional $110 million for “humanitarian relief to families and individuals encountered by” DHS. The temporary ESFP for migrants (called “ESFP-H”, for “humanitarian”) from the 2019 supplemental was now a line item.
The program then grew. There’s much much more at the link; it’s difficult to summarize, so I suggest you go there to read it. It’s the most complete treatment of the subject that I’ve seen so far.
There’s also the fact that the Biden/Harris administration seems to feel we have plenty of money to help Lebanon with its “humanitarian needs”:
The people of Lebanon are facing an increasingly dire humanitarian situation. I am concerned about the security and well-being of civilians suffering in Lebanon and will continue working to help meet the needs of all civilians there.
To that end, the United States will provide…
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) October 5, 2024
Most of the responses there are brutal and well-deserved.
What is this administration thinking? Who in the White House is thinking it’s a good idea to use emergency funds to settle immigrants? Maybe it’s someone who is hoping those immigrants will be Democrat voters in four more years, but even so, this is a transparent abuse of our system wherein the House of Representatives decides how to spend money. What we have now is the White House and executive agencies ignoring what the Congress intended with money they appropriated, and doing what they think will gain them votes. Despicable.
It might help a tad if Hezbullah wasn’t embedding itself—and its huge supplies of ammo—within the civilian population. But who really cares about that? (Who even mentions the word “Hezbullah”? Oh I forgot! Hezbullah are civilians, too….)
By the way, are the Lebanese dropping like flies from Israel-caused starvation yet?
No matter. BUILD THAT PIER!!
One might think the Democrats are sick and tired of lying.
One would be very, very wrong:
“NY ballot measure aimed at protecting abortion could allow illegal migrants to vote, critics”—
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/new-yorks-prop-one-trojan-horse-epic-proportions
Opening graf:
No, they’re not tired at all.
They revel in this crap…
They luxuriate in it.
And they won’t be satisfied until the country is entirely unrecognizable.
Totally ruined.
Destroyed.
Transformed.
First f#%k up the economy.
Then f#%k up the kids.
Then f#%k up their families.
Then f#%k up their neighborhoods.
Then f#%k up their cities.
Works like a charm.
(Not to worry: there’s still a whole lot left to f#%k up…)
“California Faces Wave Of Lawsuits Over Gender Identity Notification In Schools”—
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/california-faces-wave-lawsuits-over-gender-identity-notification-schools
Democrats are not just liars. They are stupid, ignorant, lazy, or evil, often in combination.
They make up the vast majority of the federal work force.
I think America is slowly dying, being strangled by its own government. Reminds me of czarist Russia before Lenin.
Yer right, Cicero.
If only they were ONLY psychopathic liars…
Me bad.
(On the other hand, I’m fairly certain Nicholas II loved his country…which is a lot more than one could say about Obama II…or Obama I for that matter…. Let us hope that Obama III doesn’t get the opportunity to totally kill it…)
@ the excerpt: “EFSP had the goal of providing aid to homeless Americans, most notably the elderly, handicapped, families with kids, Native Americans, and (especially) veterans.”
Proving once again how everything done with good intentions (which the road to hell is paved with) gets warped if they don’t have adequate guard rails built in.
And you don’t even want to consider the things that are done with bad intentions.
Which is why we should never let them get started.
When you add Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy to Robert Conquest’s Laws you describe every government ever, once past the initial founding.
My only caveat is with Robert’s third law, considering the events that have unfolded over the last few decades (or longer), and is really only for clarification of the phrase “its enemies.”
I think it should read “The simplest way to explain the behavior of any bureaucratic organization is to assume that it is controlled by a cabal of its enemies, who are dedicated to thwarting its initial mission.”
Pursuant to Pournelle’s Iron Law, the organization eventually becomes filled with people dedicated only to their own power and wealth, and interested only in furthering their own policies and ideologies, thus they become enemies to the good intentions of the original bureaucracy, especially if achieving those objectives could interfere with their own goals. They have no interest in fulfilling its initial mission, and hence the behavior of the now-dominant bureaucrats becomes perfectly understandable.
https://www.jerrypournelle.com/reports/jerryp/iron.html
And the second group will soon control admittance to the organization once it controls hiring, as we have seen with academia and the administrative state (hmm, sounds like the title of a blockbuster documentary).
https://www.isegoria.net/2008/07/robert-conquests-three-laws-of-politics/
It really amuses me when people are outraged by this. This government has been doing such since their beginning. The outrage train rolls on…….
Here’s a good companion post to the one Neo linked.
Slightly edited; it’s not long.
https://cis.org/Oped/Oped-Whos-Funding-Illegal-Immigration-You-Are
by Mark Krikorian, in February 2024
That’s the border bill that Democrats keep accusing Trump (who is not a senator) of killing.
This post explains what that bill actually encompassed — and it isn’t border security.
https://cis.org/Jacobs/Trump-Didnt-Kill-Senate-Border-Security-Deal-Deals-Provisions-Did
The FBI just arrested an Afghan for planning a terrorist attack on election day. He went so far to sell his house, arrange for the family to go back east, buy some guns, and so on.. This is the complaint and the Justice news release.
The scary thing – they got the guy in OKC. It will be interesting to see how he got here.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1372841/dl
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/afghan-national-arrested-plotting-election-day-terrorist-attack-name-isis
Just a little reminder of why we have to be vigilant about every bill, regulation, policy, and bureaucrat.
https://accordingtohoyt.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/1603981108356059141.jpg?w=1024
My county is just now completing a series of roads and drainage projects funded by FEMA relief dating back to the 2017 Harvey landfall. It takes years to apply, years to finalize and approve, and years to finalize the competitive bids. I guess it shouldn’t be too surprising that FEMA has funds dating back to 2014 awards. These projects had very little to do with the hurricane, by the way. They’re garden-variety “resilience” projects connected in somewhat loose fashion to the idea of being less vulnerable to the next storm. Boondoggles, really.
On the other hand, I have to admit that FEMA was really helpful here in paying for debris removal that cost 3-4 times the county tax revenue stream at least. FEMA also seems to have paid for a good many people’s emergency hotel and food budgets in the immediate aftermath of the storm, as well as some temporary housing in the form of mobile homes–temporary as in the better part of a year, which is what it often took to get homes rebuilt.
What FEMA didn’t do, and as far as I know was never intended to do, is come in and take charge after a storm, handle the logistics of recovery (other than to impose rather onerous reimbursement guidelines requiring a LOT of red tape), or distribute much in the way of emergency aid such as food, water, medical care, or clean-up. The state government did some of that, but most was handled by church organizations and a small army of volunteers with chainsaws and skidsteers.
You don’t have to be a democrat to be a liar and hypocrite. But you have to be a liar and hypocrite in order to be a democrat.
@ Wendy > “What FEMA didn’t do, and as far as I know was never intended to do, is come in and take charge after a storm, handle the logistics of recovery (other than to impose rather onerous reimbursement guidelines requiring a LOT of red tape), or distribute much in the way of emergency aid such as food, water, medical care, or clean-up.”
Thanks for the info on the project time-lines; but, how much of the delay is due to the red tape bureaucrats wrap everything in, even when it reduces their own effectiveness?
As I read the reports, the alleged problem with FEMA in the current situation is that they ARE trying to take charge, and hampering actual rescue operations in the process.
“Maybe it’s someone who is hoping those immigrants will be Democrat voters in four more years,…” (From commenter “F”, above).
I suspect the Democrats’ timeline is a great deal more immediate than “in four more years.”
And, regarding appropriations and allocations, I heard a talk radio host yesterday refer to the fed dot gov’s ability to reallocate appropriated funds, in the instance cited to very different purposes, a few of which were to a different Executive branch agency; IIRC, Congress alone has the ability to reallocate appropriated funds and that ad hoc reallocation of appropriations by an Executive branch agency constitutes a violation of Congress’ Constitutional spending and financial regulatory authority.
Am I remembering that correctly?
“a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth”
I remember back in probably the 1980s there was an idea bantered about that every agency and bureau should have a ‘sunset’ provision that made it expire unless it was reauthorized with new legislation. That never got anywhere, though I suppose if it had, Congress would just pass an omnibus reauthorization that stupid Republicans would also vote for.
You don’t have to be a democrat to be a liar and hypocrite. But you have to be a liar and hypocrite in order to be a democrat.
Good one, John. Very good indeed. Do you mind if I use this?
The Democrat elite want to go back to the days when the dirt people were aware of how much better their “betters” had it than them. For example, do you think the likes of Nancy Pelosi likes the idea of some construction worker owning the same exact smartphone as she does?
The ultimate goal of the Democrats is to make the common man as miserable as possible where only a small group of the ruling party is able to afford not only luxuries, but what used to be regarded as simple pleasures.
Only the elite should be allowed to travel and take vacations. Therefore, the common man must not be allowed to drive himself. First make gasoline too expensive, then simply outlaw gasoline burning cars and make electric cars too expensive for anyone but the elite (including uber drivers). Restrict air travel and make it unaffordable. The common man will then be left with unreliable electric local public transportation or bicycles which will lock his movement in place.
Only the elite should be allowed to eat meat. Significantly limit meat production and price it way out of the commoner’s range. The only options left for sustenance will be plants, yeast-based products, and protein supplementation from insects.
Only the elite should be allowed to live in comfort. Import hundreds of millions of 3rd world peasants and fund their settlement in and around where the common man lives. Make the common man live in an environment of widespread crime and constant danger, while the elite live in their gated communities and skyscrapers. (The names of the immigrants being logged onto voter rolls for ballots to be cast in their names also assures the election of elites to continue this way of doing things forever.)
@ sarmine > “The Democrat elite want to go back to the days when the dirt people were aware of how much better their “betters” had it than them.”
Although I deplore the excessive violence of the French Revolution and the decline of its leadership into rampaging destruction, I have begun to understand the impetus of the initial rebellion.
“assures the election of elites to continue this way of doing things forever.”
That’s what France’s nobles thought.
@ Jimmy > “Congress would just pass an omnibus reauthorization that stupid Republicans would also vote for.”
The GOP slurps at the same troughs the Democrats do, although they sometimes get shouldered down to the far end.
See my observations on bureaucracies a few comments above:
https://www.thenewneo.com/2024/10/08/about-that-fema-money-that-isnt-available-because-it-was-given-to-illegals/#comment-2765749
AesopFan on October 8, 2024 at 7:44 pm said:
Sarmine: you’re describing the world of “Soylent Green”. State-compelled or -encouraged euthanasia is already here (Canada’s “medical assistance in dying”).
Wonder if they’ll take it to the next step?