Hurricane season starts June 1. FEMA is already out of money.

Right now, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has entered what officials call "Immediate Needs Funding" — a financial red zone triggered when the agency's Disaster Relief Fund drops below $3 billion. That means FEMA can only spend on the most urgent, life-saving needs. Reimbursements to rural hospitals, long-term recovery projects, and community rebuilding efforts are on pause.

This isn't a distant warning. It's happening today, weeks before the official start of hurricane season — the same season that could bring storms like the ones that caused $160 billion in damage from Hurricane Katrina and $125 billion from Hurricane Harvey.

FEMA Associate Administrator Victoria Barton put it plainly: "The potential response efforts … could be wiped out if there's no disaster relief funding."

When a major disaster strikes, FEMA typically covers at least 75% of eligible costs for state and local governments — debris removal, emergency response, infrastructure repair. Without a fully funded Disaster Relief Fund, that safety net disappears exactly when people need it most. And with roughly 10,000 FEMA workers paid directly out of this same fund, even the agency's ability to staff a response is at risk.

Disasters don't wait for budgets to be sorted out. Communities along the Gulf Coast, Atlantic seaboard, and across the country deserve to know that help will be there when the next storm hits.

We're calling on Congress to immediately replenish FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund and ensure the agency can respond to whatever this hurricane season brings.