President Biden and other administration officials warned Friday that Congress will soon need to provide more funding to aid the response to hurricanes Helene and Milton.
“We’re going to be going to the Congress,” Biden said. “We’re going to need a lot of help, going to need a lot more money as we identify specifically how much is needed.”
Biden said that he has not spoken to House Speaker Mike Johnson but has spoken with other Republicans, indicating that they may press the GOP leader. “I think Speaker Johnson is going to get the message that he’s got to step up, particularly for small businesses.
The Small Business Administration oversees a disaster loan program and the agency’s leader, Isabel Casillas Guzman, said Friday that funding would run out in “a matter of days.”
“We have been advising for months that the SBA needed to replenish its disaster program so that we could continue to carry through hurricane season, and of course, with the devastation of Helene across those six states and now Milton, SBA’s resources are going to be tapped to be able to help these communities rebuild,” she told CNN.
Biden and others have emphasized that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has the funding it needs to respond to the two hurricanes that hit the Southeast. As part of the spending bill it passed late last month, Congress provided just over $20 billion in disaster relief funding for the fiscal year that began on October 1 and runs through next September. FEMA quickly spent half of that money.
FEMA disaster fund dwindling quickly: FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said Friday that the agency has spent $10 billion of the $20 billion in just a matter of days, in part because it restarted some $8 billion in recovery projects it had temporarily halted in August to ensure it would have enough funding for life-threatening emergencies.
She told reporters Friday that she is continually tracking her budget to make sure that she has enough funding in case of another disaster. “We need to watch this very closely. Hurricane season is not over,” she said. “And so every day we’re having a conversation about how much is being drawn down from the Disaster Relief Fund.”
For a third straight day, Biden repeated his criticism of the misinformation and “malarkey” about the federal response to the storms. “Again, let me say that the misinformation out there is not only just disgusting, but it’s dangerous and it’s misleading,” he said, adding that “the truth is we’re providing all the resources that are needed.”
Biden said he believes that the truth is breaking through to people as he and Republican officials call for an end to the misinformation. “I think those who have been spreading these lies to try to undermine the opposition are going to pay a price for it,” he said.
Asked if he thinks Donald Trump is singularly to blame for the lies, Biden said: “No, he’s not singularly — but he’s just the biggest mouth.”
