"More than $900 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grants and loans are awaiting Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s approval under her controversial policy of personally reviewing major expenditures, an agency source told The Hill.

This represents a significant backlog at the emergency management agency, which provides funding that both helps communities prepare for disasters and assists with short- and long-term recovery.

This is in line with a figure reported last week by an “Alt-FEMA” Substack newsletter. The newsletter’s inaugural edition earlier this year was signed by an anonymous FEMA employee “on behalf of the Alt-FEMA Editorial Team.”

The $900 million figure gives clues about how Noem’s policy of personally approving all major expenditures that cost $100,000 or more is actually playing out."

Rachel Frazin reports for The Hill December 19, 2025. [2]