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GAO-24-106676 1 (2024-07-09)

handle is hein.gao/gaoqjv0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Why This Matters Key Takeaways On March 13, 2020, the President declared a nationwide emergency for the COVID-19 pandemic, authorizing assistance from the Disaster Relief Fund (DRF)-a key source of federal funding for natural disaster response and recovery. The President subsequently issued 59 major disaster declarations for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, five territories, and three Tribes. This marked the first time the DRF has been used to respond to a nationwide public health emergency. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which manages the DRF, played a leading role in the federal COVID-19 response. Members of Congress have raised questions about FEMA's COVID-19 assistance and its effects on the DRF. Although the DRF received supplemental appropriations in COVID-19 relief legislation, funding requirements for the DRF threatened to exceed available resources by August 2023. In response, FEMA implemented measures to prioritize response and immediate recovery efforts and to pause new DRF obligations that were not essential for lifesaving and life- sustaining activities. The joint explanatory statement accompanying the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, includes a provision for us to evaluate various aspects of FEMA's COVID-19 response.' This report examines the status of obligations and expenditures related to COVID-19 and how FEMA estimated these costs. * As of March 2024, FEMA reported obligations of $125.3 billion from the DRF for COVID-19 assistance, of which $103.6 billion had been expended. FEMA estimated that obligations would total $141.3 billion through the end of fiscal year 2024, and $171.6 billion for the entire disaster. * FEMA expects to obligate and expend funds through August 10, 2026, for COVID-19 Public Assistance projects completed during the disaster incident period (January 20, 2020, through May 11, 2023). In addition, FEMA continues to accept applications for COVID-19 funeral assistance. * The amount FEMA has received in appropriations for the DRF has not kept pace with the amount FEMA has expected to obligate for major disasters, including COVID-19, increasing the risk of insufficient funding. * FEMA has a process to estimate its obligations for COVID-19. However, FEMA underestimated its COVID-19 obligations in fiscal years 2021 and 2022 and generally has not met its own estimation accuracy goal. FEMA officials told us that it was challenging to estimate obligations for the COVI D- 19 disaster because changes in policies and other factors increased the uncertainty of costs. * We recommend that FEMA identify and document lessons learned related to estimating obligations for declared catastrophic disasters based on its experience with COVID-19. Page 1 GAO-24-106676 FEMA's COVID-19 Assistance

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