February 12, 2024

Warren, Padilla, Senators Push Funding Increase for FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program

The amendment would provide an additional $5 billion in assistance to non-federal entities that provide shelter and services to migrants.

Amendment Text (PDF)

Washington, D.C.  – U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) along with U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) submitted an amendment to the Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2024 that would provide $5 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Shelter and Services Program (SSP). The funding would support entities that provide shelter and services to new arrivals, and unlike the border security and foreign aid bill that failed on the Senate floor last week, it would provide the full amount of SSP funding without requiring U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to ramp up its detention and deportation efforts. After days of negotiations, Senate Republicans blocked any amendments to the emergency supplemental. 

“It’s critical that the federal government supports Massachusetts and states across the country to cover shelter expenses and help people secure stable, long-term housing for their families,” said Senator Warren. “This amendment is a critical step to do just that. The federal government needs to work in lockstep with states to provide families arriving in this country with the assistance they need.”

Senator Warren has led ongoing efforts to protect the rights of asylum seekers and other migrants, and to hold the United States accountable to its humanitarian obligations: 

  • In December 2023, Senator Warren, along with the entire Massachusetts delegation, wrote to FEMA raising concerns about a lack of federal funding for non-border states like Massachusetts experiencing a significant influx of migrants and requesting additional federal SSP funding for the Commonwealth.
  • In November 2023, Warren, Markey, Duckworth, Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) sent a letter to Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Alejandro Mayorkas and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Ur Jaddou, commending DHS for the steps it has taken to expand access to employment authorization documents (EADs) for eligible noncitizens, and laying out several policy proposals to help address delays in issuing EADs. 
  • In September 2023, Senators Warren and Markey applauded the Biden administration’s redesignation of TPS for Venezuelan migrants.
  • In August 2023, Senators Warren and Markey and Representatives Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), Lori Trahan (D-Mass.), Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), James McGovern (D-Mass.), Richard Neal (D-Mass.), Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), and Bill Keating (D-Mass.) sent a letter to Secretary Mayorkas and Director Jaddou, urging them to expedite the processing of EADs for individuals paroled into the United States, which would lessen the strain on available humanitarian and housing resources. 
  • In March 2023, Senators Warren, Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Alex Padilla and 9 other senators submitted a public comment against the Biden administration’s proposed rule to restrict asylum at the southern border. The senators called on the Biden administration to withdraw the rule in its entirety.
  • In January 2023, Senator Warren and nearly 70 other lawmakers sent a letter urging President Biden to reverse his Administration’s expansion of the inhumane Trump-era border policy known as Title 42 and to abandon the proposed asylum “transit ban” rule. The lawmakers also encouraged the President and his Administration to work with Congress to develop safe, humane, and orderly border policies that enforce our immigration laws and uphold the right to asylum under domestic and international law.
  • In September 2022, Senator Warren led members of the Massachusetts delegation in a letter to DHS and FEMA calling for funding from the Emergency Food and Shelter Program to be allocated swiftly to organizations assisting newly arrived migrants in Massachusetts. 
  • In September 2022, Senator Warren released a statement condemning efforts to use asylum seekers as political pawns and committing to assisting communities in need. 
  • In November 2021, Senator Warren stated her opposition to the continued use of Title 42 to expel asylum seekers and called for the Biden administration to rescind this policy.
  • In October 2021, Senator Warren joined Senator Menendez in criticizing the inhumane treatment of Haitian migrants and called on the Administration to support long-term stability in Haiti.  
  • In October 2021, Senator Warren called on Chris Magnus to commit to transparency regarding the investigation into the events in Del Rio, Texas during his confirmation hearing to be CBP Commissioner.  

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