Speaking of areas in the budget that should be chainsawed… GOP governors such as Greg Abbott of Texas have suggested an “easy solution” to FEMA’s funding shortfall after Helene and Milton: stop the subsidies now.

The Biden administration and media fact-checkers rushed to contradict Abbott and others for spreading “rumors” and distorting the evidence. But Abbott is right that migrant spending is ripe for cuts.

Overall, the federal government spent $67 billion last year on migrant services and costs. A significant chunk of that spending came from FEMA, which last year started a Shelter and Services Program for migrants. Spending has swelled to nearly $1 billion this year.

New York City was allocated $67 million for coping with 210,000 migrants who’ve entered in the last two years. Denver has been given $27 million to cope with an influx of 42,000 migrants over the same period. Even with those funds, Denver has had to cut $8.4 million in funding from its police department and $2.5 million from its fire department.

Wouldn’t it be cheaper to just build the wall?