Biden may call Congress back for Hurricane Helene funding
President Biden on Monday said he expects to ask Congress for a supplemental bill to fund Hurricane Helene relief efforts, suggesting lawmakers may have to return from their lengthy election recess to pass it.
Biden said it’s his “expectation” to ask for a supplemental funding bill, but that he didn’t have a price tag for it yet, adding “this is a historic storm, its devastating.”
When asked if he would ask Congress to return from recess, he said, “that is something I may have to request, but no decisions are made yet.”
Congress left on Thursday for recess and the House and Senate aren’t expected to return until Nov. 12, after Election Day.
Congress passed a three-month stopgap last week, which excluded the $10 billion in additional funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) disaster relief fund that was in the Republicans’ original six-month funding bill.
With the shorter timeline, lawmakers opted to include a provision for FEMA to use resources faster for disaster response during the three months covered by the spending bill.
Biden also on Monday said he plans to go to North Carolina as soon as Wednesday to access the storm damage, stressing that he doesn’t want to go to0 quickly and disrupt relief efforts.
“I told the governor of North Carolina, I’d go down. I expect to be down there by Wednesday or Thursday,” Biden said. “You know there’s an entourage, it can be disruptive.”
When asked about former President Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, visiting Georgia on Monday for a briefing on the damage, Biden said, “I don’t have any idea.”
Trump is expected to visit a furniture store in Valdosta, Ga., which is a pivotal swing state in November’s election.
“I’m committed to traveling to impacted areas as soon as possible,” Biden said. “But I’ve been told that it would be disruptive if I did it right now. We will not do that at the risk of diverting or delaying any of the response assets needed to deal with this crisis.”
The president said he has been in touch with North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R). FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell is currently on the ground in Asheville, N.C., Biden noted, and 3,600 federal personnel has been deployed to impacted areas.
Hurricane Helene made landfall Thursday in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane, bringing with it devastating winds and rainfall and over 100 casualties across six states, The Associated Press reported.
Harris cut her west coast campaign swing short to return Monday to Washington for a briefing on the storm at the FEMA’s headquarters.