The federal government’s main disaster relief fund is dwindling as the partial shutdown of the Homeland Security Department nears the end of its first full week.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is expected to report that its disaster relief fund totals $9.6 billion, a source familiar with the matter said Thursday night.
That is down from the roughly $30 billion balance that existed as of Dec. 31, according to FEMA’s Feb. 3 report to Congress. But since the partial shutdown that began Feb. 14, FEMA lost access to $22.5 billion that had been provided on a temporary basis in a Homeland Security continuing resolution that expired last week.
