Sponsors (6)
The bill keeps FEMA disaster funding and essential staff working through government funding lapses—protecting disaster survivors and public safety—while imposing continued federal spending, reducing budgetary flexibility, and creating potential priority disputes during shutdowns.
State and local governments and disaster survivors will still receive FEMA Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) assistance during federal funding lapses, ensuring disaster aid and reimbursements are delivered without interruption.
Life‑ and property‑protecting FEMA activities (individual assistance and public assistance) remain funded during funding gaps, reducing immediate risks to public safety and speeding recovery after disasters.
FEMA employees required to obligate and disburse DRF funds cannot be furloughed during a lapse, preserving staffing, institutional knowledge, and program continuity for disaster response operations.
Taxpayers will continue to fund DRF spending during government shutdowns, maintaining outlays that could increase budget deficits or require offsets elsewhere.
Designating more FEMA workers as excepted reduces the Administration's flexibility to cut costs during a lapse and may shift furloughs or cuts onto other agencies or programs.
Prioritizing DRF obligations during a lapse could create legal or interagency disputes about which programs must continue, risking delayed funding or attention for other urgent priorities at the state or local level.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires FEMA to keep using available Disaster Relief Fund balances and keep necessary staff on duty to deliver disaster relief during funding lapses.
Requires FEMA to keep obligating and spending available Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) money for disaster relief, emergency assistance, and recovery programs during any lapse in appropriations, and designates the employees needed for those actions as excepted (not furloughed) under the Anti‑Deficiency Act. The rule applies only to DRF funds already appropriated and still available at the time of a lapse and covers individual and public assistance programs needed to protect life and property.
Official title: To direct the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to continue to obligate and disburse covered funds in the Disaster Relief Fund during a lapse in appropriations, and for other purposes.
Introduced October 17, 2025 by Jared Moskowitz · Last progress October 17, 2025