As the Gulf Coast gets battered by a hurricane that had reached Category 3 strength when it hit landfall, the fact that President Trump reallocated, via executive order, $44 billion from FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund to finance unemployment subsidies is not lost on some lawmakers, Rolling Stone reports.
The move spotlights Trump’s inability to manage crises facing the United States and the incompetence of his Administration to propose solutions to multiple problems that need attention.
“The fact that President Trump would take up to $44 billion from FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund right before a possibly record-setting hurricane season shows his inability to protect our country during a crisis,” Democratic Congressman Donald Payne of New Jersey told Rolling Stone. “If he had convinced his Senate allies to pass our Heroes Act, we would have extended unemployment benefits and still had plenty of money for FEMA and states to use to help Americans recover from a natural disaster, like Hurricane Laura.”
The reallocation of funds is emblematic of the Trump Administration’s way of handling problems facing Americans. By moving funds from one pot to another, Trump is simply delaying having to deal with the problem, likely until after the election, by having to raise federal revenues to cover the costs.
Trump has already racked up a $3 trillion deficit in the current fiscal year, with that number expected to be higher because of lack of revenue due to the coronavirus shutdown and lingering impact of Trump’s tax cuts.
“There is a reason the Constitution gave Congress the sole power to authorize government expenditures,” Payne continued. “It was to prevent reckless Presidents from taking money from one program to fund another one.”