During her visit to Orlando Tuesday afternoon, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced $1 million in emergency funding available to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement from the Department of Justice.
That leaves Florida $4 million short of Gov. Rick Scott's request for a federal emergency declaration and $5 million from FEMA.
Scott's spokesperson said Lynch's $1 million grant was not enough.
"We are still disappointed that they denied our request for a disaster declaration and we will be appealing it," said spokesperson Jackie Schutz.
Scott said the $5 million would have paid for emergency response efforts, law enforcement response, emergency medical care, counseling services and other social services to assist victims.
"It is incredibly disappointing that the Obama administration denied our request for an Emergency Declaration," said Scott. "Last week, a terrorist killed 49 people, and wounded many others, which was the deadliest shooting in U.S. history. It is unthinkable that President Obama does not define this as an emergency. We are committing every state resource possible to help the victims and the community heal and we expect the same from the federal government.”
FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate wrote in a letter to Scott that the presidential emergency declaration only applies when federal assistance is needed to "save lives and protect property and public health and safety."
"Because your request did not demonstrate how the emergency response associated with this situation is beyond the capability of the State and affected local governments or identify any direct federal assistance needed to save lives or protect property, an emergency declaration is not appropriate for this incident," Fugate wrote.
Orange County's Sheriff said his agency has seen "extraordinary costs" from the Pulse nightclub massacre.
"Our staff has been working around the clock, we've had to step up our public safety efforts across the spectrum and it's costing significant dollars to be able to do that," said Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings. "We've had a lot of visits now of elected officials at the state, local and federal level and when we get those visits it sucks resources up as well just to be able to deal with a presidential visit. So our community needs those dollars in order to be able to put itself back together."
Demings said there may not be enough money in his budget to pay for the tragedy and the response to it.
"We are still going through the tragedy and our costs are going to be unusual," said Demings. "My budget is going to be impacted as a result of this because of the additional hours my staff is working to make certain this community is safe and continues to be safe. It's really unknown whether we have enough money to cover us because we don't know how much longer the impact is going to be felt for this event."
Demings said he may have to ask county, state and the federal government for additional funding.
"I was disappointed because I would have thought that this was an attack on America, it wasn't just an attack on Orlando or Orange County, this was an attack on America," said Demings. "And as such this is the type of situation that we should have our federal authorities supporting us."
Scott's press office listed examples of emergency declarations that the federal government has approved:
President Obama's Inauguration in 2009
Massachusetts Water Main Break in 2010
Boston Bombing in 2013
West Fertilizer Company Explosion in 2013
Flint Water Crisis in 2016
FEMA said there have not been requests by governors for emergency declarations following other mass shootings in recent years (including San Bernardino, Virginia Tech, and Newtown).
FEMA did grant a federal state of emergency after the Boston bombings but said it was an ongoing incident at the time of the request.
Scott said the federal government, however, will allocate $253,000 to help pay for overtime for first responders.