Disaster Relief Fund State of Play: In Brief
Updated October 16, 2023
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
R47676

Disaster Relief Fund State of Play: In Brief

Introduction
The Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) is one of the most-tracked single accounts funded by Congress
each year. It is the primary source of funding for the federal government’s domestic general
disaster relief programs.
Discussions at an April 2023 House Appropriations Committee hearing indicated that an
additional supplemental request was anticipated to address an expected shortfall1 in part of the
DRF for FY2023.2
On August 10, 2023, the Biden Administration submitted a supplemental appropriations request
to Congress that included $12 billion for the DRF, which would cover the projected shortfall and
provide additional resources for potential forthcoming catastrophic events. Three weeks later, the
Administration raised that request to $16 billion.
On August 29, 2023, FEMA announced it was implementing special guidance restricting further
obligations from the DRF to ensure funding is available for essential “life-safety and life-
sustaining efforts.”3
On September 31, 2023, Congress passed and President Biden signed into law P.L. 118-115, a
continuing resolution lasting through November 17, 2023, that included $16 billion in
supplemental appropriations for the DRF and an anomaly to allow for faster allocation of the
continuing resolution’s temporary budget authority if necessary. As a result, on October 2, 2023,
FEMA lifted its restrictions on obligations from the DRF.
This report summarizes
• what the DRF is used for, and how its structure reflects that;
• how it is funded;
• its recent funding history; and
• why it remains reliant on supplemental appropriations even when its budget
request is met or exceeded, as was the case in FY2023.
More detailed history and policy discussion of the DRF is included in CRS Report R45484, The
Disaster Relief Fund: Overview and Issues.
Note: The content in this In Brief will be included in an updated version of the above report, at
which time this report will be archived.
What Is the DRF Used For?
The DRF funds disaster activity pursuant to the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency
Assistance Act, as amended (Stafford Act; 42 U.S.C. §5121 et seq.). It pays for several key

1 At the time, FEMA anticipated that by the end of the fiscal year, funding requirements for major disasters would
exceed DRF resources by almost $12 billion.
2 House Appropriations Committee, “Joyce Remarks at FY24 Budget Hearing for the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (As Prepared),” April 18, 2023, available at https://appropriations.house.gov/news/statements/joyce-remarks-
fy24-budget-hearing-federal-emergency-management-agency-prepared.
3 Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), “Immediate Needs Funding Fact Sheet,” Office of External
Affairs email attachment, August 29, 2003. Also available at https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/documents/
fema_inf-fact-sheet.pdf.
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Disaster Relief Fund State of Play: In Brief

disaster response, recovery, and mitigation programs that provide assistance to communities
impacted by presidentially declared emergencies and disasters.4
The DRF does not fund all federal disaster assistance. Many federal agencies other than FEMA
have specific authorities and resources to support certain disaster response and recovery efforts.
However, the DRF does provide most of the federal government’s support for immediate disaster
response, through FEMA’s own capabilities, and through the mission assignment process,
whereby FEMA coordinates a government-wide response and reimburses agencies it calls into
action that do not have independent authority nor funding for disaster recovery operations.5
DRF Structure
Major Disasters Category
Since 2012, the DRF has been split into two categories. The larger of the two—the “major
disasters” category—is for costs pursuant to specifically declared major disasters. In recent years,
this category has represented more than 95% of DRF obligations.
The DRF “major disasters” category funds several different Stafford Act programs identified as
“Direct Disaster Programs”:
• Individual Assistance (IA);6
• Public Assistance (PA);7 and
• Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP).8
Under the Disaster Recovery Reform Act,9 an automatic set-aside was created within the “major
disasters” category for pre-disaster mitigation grants through the Building Resilient Infrastructure
and Communities (BRIC) grant program.10
Most public discussion about depletion of the DRF is technically a discussion about depletion of
the unobligated balance of the major disasters category of funding, not including the BRIC set-
aside.
DRF Base Category
The smaller category, known as the DRF “base,” covers most other Stafford Act-related costs
including

4 For more details on disaster declarations, see CRS Report R41981, Congressional Primer on Responding to and
Recovering from Major Disasters and Emergencies, by Elizabeth M. Webster and Bruce R. Lindsay.
5 For details on how this process, known as “mission assignments,” works, see https://www.fema.gov/partnerships/
mission-assignments.
6 For more detail, see CRS In Focus IF11298, A Brief Overview of FEMA’s Individual Assistance Program, by
Elizabeth M. Webster.
7 For more detail, see CRS In Focus IF11529, A Brief Overview of FEMA’s Public Assistance Program, by Erica A.
Lee.
8 For more detail, see CRS Insight IN11187, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Hazard Mitigation
Assistance, by Diane P. Horn.
9 P.L. 115-254, Division D.
10 While the funding is “set aside” for BRIC, it remains available for broader use for other activities within the “major
disasters” category in the event the DRF runs low on budget authority. For more information on the BRIC program, see
CRS Insight IN11515, FEMA Pre-Disaster Mitigation: The Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC)
Program, by Diane P. Horn.
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Disaster Relief Fund State of Play: In Brief

• Pre-disaster surge activities;
• Activity pursuant to emergency declarations;
• Fire Management Assistance Grants; and
• Disaster Readiness and Support Activities.
The reason for the bifurcation of the DRF was the implementation of special budgetary treatment
for the costs of major disasters in 2012. Under the Budget Control Act of 2011,11 a special
accommodation was made that allowed for congressionally designated appropriations for costs
incurred pursuant to Stafford Act major disaster declarations to not count against discretionary
spending limits.12 Therefore, that spending had to be specifically identified, and the distinction
between “major disasters” and the DRF “base” emerged.
Base funding for the DRF cannot be used for the costs of major disasters. Under appropriations
law, providing a specific amount for an activity in statute means other resources not specifically
designated for that activity cannot be applied to it without specific statutory direction.13
DRF Appropriations
Annual and Supplemental
The DRF receives an annual appropriation under FEMA within the Department of Homeland
Security Appropriations Act. Once the budgetary treatment of major disaster costs was
implemented in the annual appropriations process, beginning in the FY2013 cycle, DRF annual
appropriations covered a much larger proportion of actual DRF spending than before.14

11 P.L. 112-25.
12 For more detail, see CRS Report R45778, Exceptions to the Budget Control Act’s Discretionary Spending Limits, by
Megan S. Lynch; and CRS In Focus IF10720, Calculation and Use of the Disaster Relief Allowable Adjustment, by
William L. Painter.
13 See “Augmentation of Appropriations,” in Government Accountability Office, Principles of Appropriations Law
(aka. “the Red Book), Third Edition, Volume II, pp. 6-162 et seq., available at https://www.gao.gov/legal/
appropriations-law/red-book.
14 For the underlying analysis, see CRS Report R45484, The Disaster Relief Fund: Overview and Issues, by William L.
Painter.
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Figure 1. DRF Appropriations History, FY1964-FY2023

Source: CRS analysis of appropriations legislation.
Notes: Totals for FY2005, FY2006, FY2018, FY2020, FY2021, and FY2023, referenced by the arrows, are beyond the scale of the main graph and are shown on the
inset. FY2013 numbers do not reflect the impact of sequestration. Supplemental data include contingent appropriations and all appropriations under the heading of
“Disaster Relief” or “Disaster Relief Fund” including the language “for an additional amount.” Reductions reflected in the Net Total data include transfers and rescissions
specifically enumerated in appropriations acts. For information on trends in the declarations that helped drive the demand for these appropriations, see CRS Report
R42702, Stafford Act Declarations 1953-2016: Trends, Analyses, and Implications for Congress, by Bruce R. Lindsay.
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As Figure 1 indicates, the DRF has relied significantly on supplemental appropriations to ensure
it has the resources to fund Stafford Act programs. Prior to the implementation of budget controls,
funding for disasters was provided as needed. With the implementation of deficit reduction efforts
in the 1980s, disaster assistance had to “compete” for a limited pool of discretionary budget
authority in the appropriations process. The use of “emergency” exceptions in supplemental
appropriations allowed Congress to fund more disaster relief outside the annual appropriations
process, “making room” for other priorities. These “emergency” designations were rarely used in
annual appropriations measures. The creation of the limited disaster relief adjustment to
discretionary budget limits in the Budget Control Act created a mechanism that allowed more of
those Stafford Act disaster-related costs to be funded in annual appropriations measures. While a
handful of other disaster-related appropriations have periodically used the disaster-related
flexibility, the DRF has exercised 95% of the available disaster relief adjustment.15
Even with this flexibility with regard to limits on discretionary spending, the annual
appropriations request for the DRF notes, and has noted for many years, that in the event of a
catastrophic incident (a disaster resulting in more than $500 million in spending from the DRF), a
supplemental appropriation would be required.16
Continuing Resolutions
If annual appropriations for the coming fiscal year are not enacted prior to the end of the current
fiscal year, Congress often passes a continuing resolution (CR) to provide temporary budget
authority so that federal government agencies can continue to operate until annual appropriations
are finalized. This temporary funding is provided at a rate for operations, which is usually based
on the prior year annual appropriation (with some adjustments or exceptions), and is usually
provided for a limited period of time. Under a CR, in most cases budget authority is gradually
apportioned to agencies (as the final level of appropriations has not been set) because spending
too large a proportion of an as-yet determined annual budget early in the fiscal year may create
challenges later on.
The DRF appropriation is atypical in that its appropriations do not expire at the end of a given
fiscal year, but are available for obligation until expended. This means that Stafford Act programs
are often somewhat protected from the effects of a lapse in appropriations because the DRF
usually has carryover balances available to continue to fund its operations. However, this is not
always the case, and several times in recent years the unobligated balance in the DRF has fallen
to levels that risked impacting disaster response operations.
Since FY2018, every continuing resolution that has funded DHS has included a provision that
allows the temporary budget authority for the DRF to “be apportioned at a rate for operations
necessary to carry out response and recovery activities under the Stafford Act.”17 This anomaly
ensures that budget authority, rather than being slowly apportioned to FEMA like a typical
continuing appropriation, would be available as needed in the event the DRF’s existing carryover
balances are spent down while the CR is in effect. The anomaly essentially allows the temporary
budget authority of the CR to act as a temporary supplemental appropriation.

15 See CRS In Focus IF10720, Calculation and Use of the Disaster Relief Allowable Adjustment, by William L. Painter.
16 See, for example, FEMA, “Disaster Relief Fund: Fiscal Year 2019 Funding Requirements,” Fiscal Year 2018 Report
to Congress, p. 4, https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/2020-07/disaster-relief-funding-requirements_fy-2019.pdf.
17 P.L. 117-180, Division A, §135.
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Disaster Relief Fund State of Play: In Brief

DRF Funding and Obligation Levels
Over the last 10 years, the amount of budget authority appropriated to the DRF has risen
substantially, as has the amount obligated from each year.
Figure 2 and Table 1 provide a visual representation and specific data regarding the gross budget
authority provided in annual and supplemental appropriations to the DRF.
Figure 2. DRF Appropriations, Obligations, and Balances, FY2013-FY2023

Source: See Table 1.
Notes: All but the final data points represent end of year totals. All data reflects both the “major disasters” and
“base” portions of the DRF. “Obligations” reflect obligations at the closeout of the fiscal year, and do not reflect
potential future deobligations (recoveries). The final data for obligations and unobligated balances are pending
adjustments from closeout of FY2023 FEMA records.
Table 1. DRF Appropriations, Obligations, and Balances, FY2013-Present
(in millions of dollars of budget authority)
Annual
Supplemental
Unobligated
Fiscal Year
Appropriations
Appropriations
Obligations
Balances
2013
7,008
11,488
11,146
8,492
2014
6,221
—
8,368
6,978
2015
7,033
—
9,170
5,317
2016
7,375
—
10,536
1,819
2017
7,329
7,400
13,149
3,302
2018
7,901
42,170
26,650
28,285
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Disaster Relief Fund State of Play: In Brief

Annual
Supplemental
Unobligated
Fiscal Year
Appropriations
Appropriations
Obligations
Balances
2019
12,558
—
14,088
29,358
2020
17,863
45,000
78,039
15,792
2021
17,142
52,000
51,924
32,364
2022
18,799
200
42,683
12,624
2023
19,945
21,200
37,877
19,277
Source: CRS analysis of appropriations legislation and Appendix A of FEMA monthly reports on the DRF.
Notes: All data represent end-of-year totals and reflect both the “major disasters” and “base” portions of the
DRF. “Obligations” reflect obligations at the closeout of the fiscal year, and do not reflect potential future
deobligations (recoveries). Data in italics for obligations and unobligated balances are pending adjustments from
closeout of FY2023 FEMA records.
When the DRF Runs Low
At times, the balance in the DRF has dropped to a point that raises concern about the availability
of adequate resources in the DRF to address current and/or impending incidents. When this
occurs, FEMA implements “Immediate Needs Funding” (INF) restrictions, which allow FEMA to
prioritize, to an extent, obligation of funds from the DRF, limiting them to “life-safety and life
sustaining efforts.”
On August 29, 2023, FEMA announced the implementation of INF restrictions, noting that while
FEMA “had intended to provide ten full days [sic] notice, the current disaster environment with a
major fire and multiple hurricanes make it necessary to implement INF immediately.”18 The
unobligated balance in the DRF was $3.4 billion that morning.
FEMA indicated that it would pause new Public Assistance (PA) and Hazard Mitigation
obligations that are not essential for lifesaving and life-sustaining activities. It further indicated
that it would continue
• Individual Assistance payments directly to survivors for critical needs and
housing;
• Public Assistance for states, tribes and territories essential for lifesaving and life-
sustaining activities;
• State management costs;
• Mission assignments of federal partners for critical response activities;
• Fire Management Assistance grants; and
• Essential ongoing disaster operations, including salaries of FEMA field staff
(Stafford Act employees).19
On October 2, 2023, after enactment of a continuing resolution20 that provided up to $19.95
billion in temporary budget authority for the DRF through November 17, 2023, and a $16 billion

18 FEMA, “FEMA Advisory: FEMA Announces Implementation of Immediate Needs Funding,” Office of External
Affairs email, August 29, 2003.
19 FEMA, “Immediate Needs Funding Fact Sheet,” Office of External Affairs email attachment, August 29, 2003.
20 P.L. 118-15.
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supplemental appropriation ($15.50 billion for the costs of major disasters, and $500 million for
the DRF base), FEMA announced the suspension of the INF restriction.21
Prior to 2023, the most recent example of the implementation of INF restrictions was in August
2017, when Hurricane Harvey hit Texas, and Hurricane Irma was anticipated to strike U.S.
interests. FEMA initiated INF restrictions on August 28, 2017, as the unobligated balance in the
DRF fell below $2.8 billion in the middle of responses to multiple major disasters. FEMA lifted
the INF restrictions on October 2, 2017, when the DRF was replenished by a $7.4 billion
supplemental enacted on September 8, 2017,22 and by the release of additional budget authority
pursuant to a continuing resolution.23
Prior to that implementation, INF restrictions were put into place seven times: each year from
2003 through 2006, as well as each year from 2009 through 2011.24 After FY2011, when the DRF
came very close to depletion, FEMA changed the internal processes of obligation from the DRF,
to maintain unobligated balances longer over the course of regular operations.25
FEMA indicated in recent years that BRIC mitigation funding could be redirected to help cover
the immediate response and recovery needs pursuant to major disasters once the major disasters
subaccount is otherwise depleted.26 The mitigation funding set-aside has never been actually used
in this way before.27
Why Did the DRF Run Low in FY2023?
FEMA uses a combination of cost estimates from past (catastrophic and non-catastrophic)
disasters where recovery is ongoing, and a 10-year rolling average of non-catastrophic disaster
obligations to develop the budget request for the “major disasters” element of the DRF. It does
not include funding for any new catastrophic incidents, although in recent years it has included a
reserve for initial response to a “significant event.”28
The amount of time from request to enactment, the fact that new catastrophic incidents are not
included, and the reliance on past performance rather than future modeling all contribute to an
increased likelihood of annual appropriations action underfunding the DRF.
Issues of Timing
The Administration releases its budget request, following the statutory model, about eight months
prior to the start of the fiscal year it funds. The final deadline for agencies to provide new
information for the request is approximately one month prior to the budget release. The

21 FEMA, “Continuing Resolution Allows FEMA to Lift Restrictions on Disaster Relief Funding,” October 3, 2023,
press release (FEMA Release Number HQ-23-205), https://www.fema.gov/press-release/20231003/continuing-
resolution-allows-fema-lift-restrictions-disaster-relief-funding.
22 P.L. 115-56, Division B.
23 P.L. 115-56, Division D, §129.
24 FEMA, “Immediate Needs Funding Fact Sheet,” Office of External Affairs email attachment, August 29, 2023.
25 This reformed approach, known as Strategic Funds Management, obligates certain recovery projects costing more
than $1 million on a rolling basis. For details, see FEMA, “Recovery Standard Operating Procedure 9570.24: Strategic
Funds Management – Implementation Procedures for the Public Assistance Program,” December 21, 2012,
https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/2020-07/fema_9570.24_startegic-funds-mgmt_SOP_12-21-2012.pdf.
26 FEMA, Disaster Relief Fund: Monthly Report as of August 31, 2023, September 11, 2023, p. 4, footnote 3.
27 According to FEMA, there was roughly $4.4 billion of available mitigation funding as of the end of August 2023.
28 In the FY2024 request, there was a $2 billion reserve for catastrophic incidents, and $1 billion for BRIC mitigation
funding.
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Disaster Relief Fund State of Play: In Brief

subsequent nine months involve disasters—and FEMA response efforts—that may not have been
covered by the projected levels of activity in FEMA’s annual appropriations request.
The focus of the budget request and appropriations process on a single fiscal year also contributes
to complications in ensuring adequate DRF funding. Disaster recovery and mitigation efforts
often involve evolving multi-year projects, and the timing of those projects may shift for a variety
of reasons. This sometimes results in projected obligations shifting into another fiscal year. When
focusing on a single year, it may therefore appear that an incident has become more or less
expensive, when only an alteration in the schedule of obligations has been made.
Issues of Catastrophic Incidents
The major driver of obligations from the DRF is spending related to catastrophic disasters (i.e.,
those that cost the DRF more than $500 million each). The annual budget request omits any
requirements for potential catastrophic disasters that may occur in the fiscal year the request
covers. It also does not include the requirements of any catastrophic disasters that have already
occurred (or will occur) in the active fiscal year—when the request was made and being
considered.29 For example, the most recent catastrophic event covered in the FY2024 budget
request was Hurricane Ian, which hit the United States in late September 2022. The needs
associated with the wildfires in Hawaii and Hurricane Idalia were not included, nor were any
catastrophic incidents that may occur in FY2024. Given the practical inability to include these
increasingly common costly events in a budget request, a shortfall in the account in any given
year even if the request is funded is highly likely. Thus, FEMA notes in describing its funding
requirements for the DRF that addressing needs associated with catastrophic disasters in the
active fiscal year or the fiscal year covered by the request will require supplemental
appropriations.30
For the costs of catastrophic disasters that are included in the request, the cost estimations upon
which the request is based are sometimes less than reflective of future obligations. Such projected
costs are developed from cost estimates, which are in turn developed “from the bottom up” by
state and local governments—these are included in FEMA’s funding requirement statement for
the DRF. Readers can track these estimates by declaration within each catastrophic incident.
When compared to information on the actual and estimated obligations in FEMA’s monthly
reporting, significant variances from the original estimate can be noted, even from month to
month. An extreme example of this can be seen with the COVID-19 estimates discussed below.
The FY2023 Case Study
The Administration requested $19.74 billion for the costs of major disasters in FY2023. When
FY2023 began, however, FEMA’s monthly DRF reporting anticipated—with $18.8 billion of
continuing appropriations available—exhaustion of the major disasters subaccount of the DRF in
June, and a shortfall in that account of almost $12.2 billion by the end of the fiscal year.31

29 Based on FEMA reporting on the formulation of the DRF budget request, this has been the case since at least the
FY2019 annual appropriations cycle.
30 For example, while it is not directly stated in the FY2024 budget justification, in separate reporting to Congress on
the FY2024 budget request, FEMA states that “As in prior years, the budget assumes that future catastrophic events
during the budget year will be funded separately with emergency supplemental appropriations.” FEMA, Disaster Relief
Fund: Fiscal Year 2024 Funding Requirements, March 13, 2023, p. 4.
31 FEMA, Disaster Relief Fund: Monthly Report as of October 31, 2022, November 8, 2023, p. 4. DRF monthly reports
are available at https://www.fema.gov/about/reports-and-data/disaster-relief-fund-monthly-reports.
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Disaster Relief Fund State of Play: In Brief

Almost three months into the fiscal year, Congress not only provided $205 million more than had
been initially requested in disaster relief-designated funding in the annual appropriations measure,
it also provided $5 billion in emergency-designated supplemental appropriations in Division N of
the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023.32 At the end of December 2022, FEMA’s monthly
reporting—with almost $25 billion in annual and supplemental appropriations available for
FY2023—anticipated exhaustion of the major disasters subaccount of the DRF in July, and a
shortfall in that account of more than $12.1 billion by the end of the fiscal year.33
Part of the reason for the gap’s persistence had to do with projections for obligations related to the
COVID-19 pandemic. States and FEMA have struggled to accurately project obligation needs for
this novel incident. As noted above, FEMA relies on cost estimates and spend plans for each state
to build its overall projection of need. The initial projection for COVID-19 DRF obligations
(based on compiled declaration-by-declaration cost estimates) from the FY2023 budget request
was $8.7 billion. The initial projection for FY2023, based on compiled spend plans, was close to
$19.3 billion—$10.6 billion more than the original projection. Over the course of the fiscal year,
the projection rose as high as $25.2 billion in projected obligations.34 At the end of FY2023, after
project delays associated with shortages in the DRF (discussed in the last paragraph of this
section), actual obligations for COVID-19 for the fiscal year stood at $15.15 billion—still almost
$6.5 billion above the projection used in developing the budget justification.35
In addition, new catastrophic disasters not included in the request continued to present costs.
Three catastrophic incidents occurred in FY2022, but had not been included in the FY2023
request. Hurricanes Ida, Fiona, and Ian had already incurred $5.61 billion in unanticipated
obligations in FY2022, and resulted in $8.51 billion in unrequested obligations in FY2023. The
wildfires in Hawaii and Hurricane Idalia, declared less than two months before the end of
FY2023, incurred more than $1.5 billion in combined obligations from the DRF in the closing
weeks of the fiscal year. That totals $16.62 billion in total unanticipated obligations for
catastrophic disasters, more than $10 billion of which were incurred in FY2023.
As of the end of August, 2023, FEMA projected exhaustion of the major disasters subaccount of
the DRF by the end of September 2023, with the exception of a reserve for catastrophic incidents
of $2.449 billion.36 FEMA had restricted obligations for major disasters effective August 29,
2023, and estimated this “Immediate Needs Funding (INF) restriction” would delay $8 billion of
obligations that would have occurred before the end of FY2023,37 including
• $2.5 billion associated with Hurricane Maria;
• $4.5 billion associated with COVID-19 pandemic response;
• $272 million associated with Hurricane Ida;
• $265 million associated with Hurricane Ian; and
• $104 million associated with Hurricane Laura.38

32 P.L. 117-328.
33 FEMA, Disaster Relief Fund: Monthly Report as of December 31, 2022, January 11, 2023, p. 4.
34 FEMA, Disaster Relief Fund: Monthly Report as of April 30, 2023, May 3, 2023, p. 7.
35 FEMA, Disaster Relief Fund: Monthly Report as of September 30, 2023, October 6, 2023, p. 7.
36 FEMA, Disaster Relief Fund: Monthly Report as of July 31, 2023, August 8, 2023, p. 16.
37 FEMA, Disaster Relief Fund: Monthly Report as of August 31, 2023, September 11, 2023, p. 4, footnote 7.
38 FEMA, Disaster Relief Fund: Monthly Report as of August 31, 2023, September 11, 2023, pp. 18-20.
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Looking Ahead to FY2024
On June 21 and July 27, 2023, respectively, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees
marked up annual appropriations legislation for the Department of Homeland Security for
FY2024, including $20.26 billion for the major disasters subaccount of the DRF. The House bill
included $145 million for the DRF base, while the Senate bill did not include any funding for the
DRF base.
On September 30, 2023, H.R. 5860—a continuing resolution providing temporary continuing
appropriations through November 17, 2023—passed the House and Senate and was signed into
law as P.L. 118-15. This continuing resolution replenished the DRF in two ways:
1. The bill included a $16 billion supplemental appropriation for the DRF—$15.5
billion for major disasters and $500 million for the DRF base ($2 million of
which was to be transferred to the DHS Office of Inspector General for
oversight).
2. The bill also allowed the DRF to receive an apportionment up to the rate for
operations necessary to fund response and recovery activities under the Stafford
Act, thus making available up to $19.95 billion in temporary budget authority.
This temporary budget authority is available through November 17, 2023, or
until the DHS Appropriations Act, 2024 is enacted, whereupon any spending of
that temporary budget authority would be charged against the FY2024 annual
appropriation for the DRF.
FEMA’s initial summary of FY2023 DRF obligations39 indicated that at the end of FY2023, the
DRF had $2.56 billion in unobligated balances for assistance pursuant to major disaster
declarations remaining, and $716 million in the DRF base—not counting the supplemental
appropriation included in P.L. 118-15 (which was technically enacted in FY2023).
That supplemental appropriation—at least the $15.5 billion designated for major disasters—is
available to address the estimated $8 billion in disaster relief costs delayed under INF restrictions,
as well as the costs of the two catastrophic disasters that occurred in FY2023 that were not
accounted for in the FY2024 budget request as well as ongoing and future major disasters. With
the availability of additional resources, as noted above, INF restrictions were lifted on October 2,
2023.

Author Information

William L. Painter

Specialist in Homeland Security and Appropriations

39 Pending adjustments from the FY2023 fiscal closeout over the next two months.
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