Confusion Over Federal Emergency Assistance To the Islands Draws Concern From The Hawaii Congressional Delegation

News Release from Hawaii Congressional Delegation, Washington, DC, December 5, 2025

(Washington, DC) – U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Mazie Hirono (D-HI), and U.S. Representatives Ed Case (HI-01) and Jill Tokuda (HI-02) joined in a letter to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to “express their concern regarding execution challenges with several Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grants and the negative effects on the people and institutions of Hawai‘i.”

In their letter to Secretary Kristi Noem, whose Department of Homeland Security oversees FEMA, and Karen Evans, FEMA’s Senior Official Performing Duties of Administrator, the delegation stated that they “have heard from various state and local agencies and nonprofits that they have experienced significant delays and obstacles” with grants that support much needed assistance in Hawai‘i but that “the related funds have not been properly awarded and obligated.”

After local and state agencies and nonprofits shared several examples of confusion over the way FEMA has administered the various grant programs, the delegation stated that “these examples suggest that FEMA’s current grant-making operations are experiencing significant difficulties marked by challenges in timelines, communication and procedural consistency.”

The delegation is calling for answers to several questions by December 31, 2025, which can be found here and below:

Dear Secretary Noem and Ms. Evans:

We write today to express our deep concern regarding execution challenges with several Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grants and the negative effects on the people and institutions of Hawai‘i.

We have heard from various state and local agencies and nonprofits that they have experienced significant delays and obstacles with the Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP), the Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention (TVTP) Grant Program, the Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP) and the Emergency Management Peformance Grant (EMPG) Program. These grants are critical to the execution of much-needed assistance in Hawai‘i, but as explained below the related funds have not been properly awarded and obligated.

EFSP Funding. FEMA announced the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 EFSP funding (Phase 42) on December 6, 2024, with Hawai‘i allocated a total of $285,947 through Aloha United Way. After the announcement, the first step is typically to submit a plan to the EFSP National Board Program through an online portal, after which the funds are released. However, FEMA has not created an option for funding recipients to do so, and the steps to proceed have been unavailable all year.

In a letter dated September 16, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security wrote to Congress regarding EFSP: “As reviews are conducted, FEMA continues to process and release funding for grantees that meet all statutory and programmatic requirements to avoid disruption of vital services to eligible communities.” However, Aloha United Way, like other EFSP funding recipients around the country, still does not have access to its funds and has not received any communication regarding any statutory or programmatic requirements from FEMA noting any noncompliance.

While Aloha United Way administers EFSP funding for Hawai‘i, the organization distributes the funds to several key organizations that depend on this funding, including the Institute for Human Services, the Hawai‘i Foodbank, The Salvation Army and two federally qualified health centers – the Waimānalo and Wai‘anae Coast Comprehensive Health Centers. These organizations provide critical support for some of the most vulnerable in our communities.

For example, in FY 2023 the Hawai‘i Foodbank provided 150,000 meals on O‘ahu and Kaua‘i Islands with EFSP funds. Without access to FY 2024 EFSP funds all year, it was unable to serve as many meals in 2025. As yet another example, local service providers like the East and West Hawai‘i Domestic Abuse Shelters now have less capacity to provide meals and support to survivors escaping violence. Aloha United Way reports that food assistance is now the number one reason Hawai‘i residents call their 211 Statewide Helpline, surpassing housing assistance for the first time in many years. This truly underscores the need for food assistance, including through EFSP funding, in our communities.

Additionally, the Government Accountability Office found that FEMA violated the Impoundment Control Act by failing to award appropriated FY 2025 funds to the EFSP National Board Program in a timely manner (see 1). This has resulted in real harm as delays in both FY 2024 and FY 2025 EFSP funding are now having tangible and harmful effects on communities in Hawai‘i and across the country.

TVTP Funding. The State of Hawai‘i Office of Homeland Security was awarded $803,330 in FY 2024 TVTP funding to support the nation’s first-ever targeted violence prevention implementation plan (see 2). The plan is an effort to preemptively address mass shootings and other violent acts by ensuring the state has the resources needed to handle unexpected incidents.3 The VTP funding is intended to support payroll costs for two positions, as well as a framework for extending targeted violence prevention best practices, training and resources to the Territory of Guam.

Despite the award to a project that directly implements the statutory intent of the TVTP Program – preventing targeted violence and terrorism – the State of Hawai‘i’s FY 2024 TVTP funding was unfortunately abruptly terminated in July 2025. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has claimed that this termination, along with nearly $18 million in funding for other awardees, was “slashing waste” from projects that do not “prevent terrorism or targeted violence.”4

We question DHS’s reasoning for concluding that supporting the implementation of the nation’s first-ever targeted violence prevention plan is not preventing targeted violence. We are also concerned to hear that a 2025 TVTP Notice of Funding Opportunity was not published in Grants.gov, only afforded a three-day turnaround and was only advertised to certain states.

This approach not only runs the risk of eroding trust in DHS’s grantmaking process, but also jeopardizes the efforts to prevent targeted violence that DHS aims to prioritize.

HSGP and EMPG. There is significant confusion around the FY 2025 periods of performance (POP) for HSGP components – State Homeland Security Program and Urban Area Security Initiative – and EMPG. Typically, both grant programs carry three-year POPs to afford emergency managers and public safety partners adequate time to plan, coordinate with partners, procure resources and adapt to the highly dynamic nature of emergency management.

However, when FEMA sent award notices in September 2025, it detailed just a one-year POP, which is highly unusual and operationally unrealistic given that emergency grant managers have historically planned for three-year POPs. In the case of the EMPG Program, both FY 2024 and FY 2025 funding are scheduled to end on the same day: September 20, 2026.  This is unfortunately nowhere near enough time for awardees like the Hawai‘i Emergency Management Agency to complete its proposed projects, some of which were planned to run through 2027.

This shortened period of performance puts an unexpected burden on any subrecipients, like the City and County of Honolulu’s Department of Emergency Management. In its case, for the last several years $500,000 in EMPG funding has been used to directly fund relevant staff salaries.

Under the new timeline, these positions may no longer be financially sustainable, putting certain Hawai‘i residents at risk of losing their jobs and leaving communities across the state more vulnerable to emergencies due to reduced staffing and diminished capacity.

For HSGP, pending litigation may alter SHSP and UASI allocations, introducing further uncertainty for public safety agencies that depend on these funds to sustain intelligence and information sharing, violent crime reduction and counter–transnational drug trafficking operations. Compounding the problem, many jurisdictions, including Hawaiʻi, cannot access previously awarded funds (FY2021–FY2024) due to federal freezes and staffing issues at FEMA because of the government shutdown.

Taken together, these examples suggest that FEMA’s current grant-making operations are experiencing significant difficulties marked by challenges in timelines, communication and procedural consistency. These have unfortunately extended beyond routine administrative matters and are having concrete negative effects on our constituents, communities and local governing institutions.

With all of this in mind, we request that you respond to the following questions by December 31, 2025:

1. Why did FY 2024 EFSP awardees not receive their funding in a timely manner?

2. What steps are DHS and FEMA taking, in coordination with the EFSP National Board Program, to ensure that FY 2024 EFSP awardees receive their funding expeditiously and that the FY 2025 EFSP funding process experiences no further delays?

3. Why did DHS and FEMA terminate the State of Hawai‘i Office of Homeland Security’s FY 2024 TVTP grant that supported the implementation of the nation’s first targeted violence prevention plan?

4. How does DHS and FEMA plan to support targeted violence prevention in Hawai‘i and other localities across the country?

5. Why did DHS, through FEMA, only allow a one-year POP for FY 2025 HSGP and EMPG awards?

6. Given that the one-year POP decision for HSGP and EMPG may reduce the capacity of emergency managers nationwide and potentially heighten community vulnerability, how does DHS and FEMA plan to address these potential impacts?

We look forward to engaging constructively with DHS and FEMA to clarify these matters and implement the solutions needed to correct them, all toward our mutual goal of making Americans and their communities safer across the nation.

With aloha,

U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Mazie Hirono (D-HI), and U.S. Representatives Ed Case (HI-01) and Jill Tokuda (HI-02)

FOOTNOTES:

1 Government Accountability Office. “Department of Homeland Security – Application of the Impoundment Control Act to Federal Emergency Management Agency Fiscal Year 2025 Federal Assistance Appropriations,” September 15, 2025, https://www.gao.gov/assets/890/881507.pdf.

2 Department of Homeland Security. “Fiscal Year 2024 Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention Grantee Abstracts,” last updated December 12, 2024, https://www.dhs.gov/fiscal-year-2024-targeted-violence-and-terrorism-prevention-grantee-abstracts

3 Department of Homeland Security. “State of Hawai‘i Office of Homeland Security Publishes a New Targeted Violence Prevention Plan,” April 10, 2024, https://www.dhs.gov/archive/news/2024/04/10/state-hawaii-office-homeland-security-new-targted-violence-prevention-plan

4 Department of Homeland Security. “DHS Axes Wasteful, Misdirected Grants, Saves Taxpayers $18.5M,” July 17, 2025, https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/07/17/dhs-axes-wasteful-misdirected-grants-saves-taxpayers-185m.