GAO says Trump's moves to withhold FEMA grants are illegal

The Trump administration violated the law when it withheld three types of grants managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) said Monday.

The GAO said FEMA’s moves to withhold the grants violated the Impoundment Control Act (ICA), which spells out the rules under which a presidential administration can seek to delay or cancel funding that’s enacted by Congress.

Monday’s report specifically knocked FEMA’s actions related to the Emergency Food and Shelter Program, the Shelter and Services Program and the Next Generation Warning System Grant Program.

These programs provide funds that support shelter and food for homeless people, offset costs for organizations that provide services for migrants and support improvements in emergency alert systems, respectively. 

“Because FEMA has deobligated and delayed the obligation or expenditure of funds without providing any justification or indicating a plan to implement these programs and move forward with the obligation and expenditure of funds, the withdrawals, holds, and reviews discussed below cannot be considered programmatic delays,” the report said. 

“Therefore, we conclude that the withholdings of budget authority for the … programs constitute violations of the ICA,” it continued. 

The GAO report comes as the Trump administration has repeatedly sought to hold up or cancel various grants across the federal government. At FEMA specifically, as well as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees it, expenditures worth more than $100,000 have to be reviewed personally by Secretary Kristi Noem. 

Separately, the Trump administration has flirted with the idea of eliminating the emergency management agency altogether, though more recently it has talked about reforming it.

The report notes that for the grant programs in question, the Trump administration axed previously issued grants. 

“We have no indication that FEMA is making progress on reviewing awards or implementing the new administration’s priorities,” it added.

DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in an email to The Hill that the GAO’s decision “is simply incorrect.”

“The Sheltering and Services Program, now restructured into the Detention Support Grant Program, and the Emergency Food and Shelter Program have had notices published and FEMA has received applications. FEMA is diligently reviewing these applications and is on track to award these funds before they expire,” McLaughlin said. 

“This allegation is nothing more than nitpicking a technicality to try to make FEMA look bad. The facts are that FEMA is going to award these funds, and no money is being impounded,” she added.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, criticized the Trump administration in light of the report. 

“President Trump has broken the law to block funding to help deliver emergency alerts to communities nationwide; his corrupt lawlessness is actively making Americans less safe,” she said in a written statement. 

“Today, we have another stark reminder of how President Trump’s lawless assault on our spending laws is hurting real people in every part of the country—as funding is held up to address homelessness, prepare for disasters, and much more. It is time for Republicans to join us in insisting that every last penny that is owed to the American people gets out to the American people,” Murray added.