After a year of historic natural disasters, what would happen to FEMA if the government shuts down?

WaPo

by Amy B Wang
January 18

As lawmakers continue trying to pass a long-term spending bill — or yet another temporary stopgap measure — to avoid a government shutdown before Friday at midnight, many federal employees are watching negotiations closely, wondering about the short-term fate of their jobs.

But some are also keeping a close eye on Capitol Hill talks with apprehension about how a shutdown might affect the Federal Emergency Management Agency as it comes off a year of natural disasters described as “historic on many levels” — and as FEMA-aided recovery continues in affected areas in Puerto Rico, Texas, Florida and California.

Because FEMA is run by the Department of Homeland Security, which has in the past continued to receive funding during government shutdowns, former agency officials say it is common for lawmakers to brush off concerns a shutdown would adversely affect the agency’s operations.

“The Republicans like to say [a shutdown is] not a big deal because they say DHS stays on the clock because they’re exempt,” former FEMA administrator W. Craig Fugate told The Washington Post. “At FEMA that’s not true.”

More than 3,000 of FEMA’s estimated 15,815 onboard employees would be suspended in the event of a government shutdown, according to the Homeland Security Department’s contingency plan for a lapse in appropriations. The plan was last updated in 2015.
***
more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2018/01/18/after-a-year-of-historic-natural-disasters-what-would-happen-to-fema-if-the-government-shuts-down/?utm_term=.df509039dc25