US Politics
DHS halts travel and restricts staff visiting disaster areas amid government shutdown, report says
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The Department of Homeland Security has halted most travel amid the ongoing funding lapse, which could impede disaster relief work, according to a new report.
Over the weekend, a partial government shutdown began after lawmakers failed to reach a deal on funding for the DHS. Now, the agency has instructed employees to stop nearly all travel, which impacts hundreds of Federal Emergency Management Agency employees who need to travel in and out of areas impacted by disasters, The Washington Post reports.
Officials told the Post that it’s unusual for funding issues to impact disaster-related efforts.
“DHS imposing restrictions on FEMA’s ability to deploy our response/recovery workforce slows us down and limits our ability to respond quickly and effectively to the needs of impacted states and communities,” an official working in a region impacted by a heavy winter storm told the outlet.
FEMA officials have been instructed to submit justification for any travel during this funding lapse, the Post reports. They must also specify if the travel is “mission essential,” which means it involves the “safety of human life or protection of property.”
The travel pause will reportedly impact other essential FEMA work, such as flood-mapping meetings. This could mean delays in updating flood maps, which “directly impacts people waiting on new maps for any number of reasons,” an official told the Post.
A FEMA spokesperson told The Independent that “travel related to active disasters is not canceled.”
“Due to the lapse in federal funding caused by the congressional Democrats, DHS issued guidance restricting travel and certain operational activities. These limitations are not a choice but are necessary to comply with federal law. FEMA continues to coordinate closely with DHS to ensure effective disaster response under these circumstances,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson noted that FEMA will prioritize “life safety and property protection” during the funding lapse, and the agency remains “ready to resume full operations as soon as Congress restores funding.”
“FEMA continues mission-essential operations for active disasters, including immediate response and critical survivor assistance. While some non-essential activities will be paused or scaled back, FEMA remains committed to supporting communities and responding to incidents like Hurricane Helene,” the spokesperson added.
This comes after a lawsuit was filed last month alleging President Donald Trump’s administration is attempting to cut 50 percent of FEMA’s workforce. A DHS spokesperson said at the time that the agency is “confident that our staffing decisions are consistent with the program’s design and mission.”
Trump has repeatedly called for significant changes to FEMA over the past year, and even suggested shortly after taking office that his administration could recommend the agency “go away.”