As the second major hurricane barrels toward the U.S. this month — this one promising to be even more devastating than the last — concerns are growing about how the government will help pay for what could be millions of dollars in damage.

Is the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) running out of money? Will Congress Approve Disaster Relief?

This is what we know:

An August report from the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general said FEMA has $7 billion that could be used to help with the recovery from Hurricanes Milton and Helene.

FEMA has a stash of money earmarked for recovery from older natural disasters dating back to “Superstorm Sandy,” which tore through the Northeast in 2012. But Fox is told the IG report “provides an incomplete picture” of how much money is available. . FEMA disputes that all the money is recoverable, indicating that only about $4.5 billion is unobligated and could potentially be reprogrammed.

That still means there may be some money available and could be returned to the Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) for “immediate needs.” The DRF deals with the immediate preparation and aftermath of natural disasters. That includes providing food and shelter to people, rescuing people, providing immediate cash to people, transportation, et al.

This view shows commuters traveling eastbound on Interstate 75, away from the west coast of Florida, prior to the arrival of Hurricane Milton on October 8, 2024. (Reuters/Marco Bello)

CATEGORY 3 MILTON BEARS DOWN ON FLORIDA

Fox is told that Congress should vote to “reprogram” the older money. Moreover, reprogrammed older disaster relief money can only flow back to the DRF. It cannot be applied to a larger “supplemental” spending bill to help recover from these storms. The price tag there will likely be more than $1 billion.

It will be up to Congress to decide whether to reprogram some of that money to meet immediate needs in the DRF once that pot of money starts to dry up after these two major storms.

Under the individual assistance program, the agency often quickly approves $750 for each household for food, clothing and daily necessities.

Disaster survivors are also eligible for up to $42,500 in financial housing assistance. That can be used to repair homes or pay up to 18 months’ rent. Applications for this program typically take longer to be processed by FEMA. Other programs provide tens of thousands of dollars to help disaster survivors rebuild through the Small Business Administration, FEMA and other federal programs.

Meanwhile, lawmakers released roughly $20 billion in immediate funding for FEMA in last month’s federal short-term funding bill.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., predicted Helene’s devastation would be “one of the costliest” the U.S. has ever seen.

Initial estimates put Helene’s privately insured losses at approximately $11 billion. Milton, now classified as a Category 3 hurricane, is expected to cause even more damage.

A sculpture of Poseidon is seen after the eye of Hurricane Milton passed off the coast of Progreso, Mexico on October 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Zetina)

HURRICANE MILTON: PROTECT YOUR HOME FROM LOST

Congress is not expected to return early after a pre-election recess to address the problem.

“The problem with these hurricanes and disasters of this magnitude is that it takes a while to calculate the actual damage, and the states are going to take some time to do that,” Johnson told Fox News.

But Fox is increasingly hearing from some conservatives willing to respond to the financial needs of Hurricanes Milton and Helene. They are happy to spend the money, but they are increasingly itching because they want cuts to offset the costs of the storm. Some of these requests may involve programs that address Democrats’ priorities.

But a senior Republican source in the House of Representatives disagrees that the compensations will ever come.

“That’s not going to happen. That’s never going to happen,” the source said. “This just goes on the credit card.”

While the idea of ​​cutting cuts elsewhere to achieve offsets makes sense, it may be politically impossible.

“Tell me where you can get the votes to do it?” asked the source, who declined to be identified.

Moreover, the federal government is already working on the 2025 budget year and there is no agreed top spending figure.

Additionally, budget hawks tried to make similar cuts after Hurricane Sandy in 2012, but failed.

“And it’s not going to work now,” the Republican source said.

Johnson said he was “alarmed and disappointed” by comments from Biden officials immediately after the storm that suggested FEMA was too few resources to deal with Helene’s anger.

A van is seen in the water at Biltmore Village in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, NC (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

Biden suggested this week that he may want Congress to return for an emergency session to pass a supplemental disaster relief bill.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said this week, “We are meeting the immediate needs” of the hurricane, but “FEMA does not have the resources to get through the season.”

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Criticism of FEMA’s response has prompted some conservatives to accuse the Biden administration of diverting disaster relief funds to support illegal immigrants at the border through the Shelter and Services Program (SSP), which last fiscal year was approximately $650 million was allocated.

Both the White House and the Department of Homeland Security have strongly denied any connection between disaster relief and the SSP, beyond the fact that both are administered by FEMA, and have said that claims that disaster relief dollars are being used to support migrant housing services are false are.

Fox News’ Liz Elkind contributed to this report.