President Joe Biden and other leaders are warning that Congress will soon need to pass additional funding to fill the federal government’s rapidly dwindling disaster-relief coffers after two major hurricanes slammed into the Southeastern US.
While officials have stressed that the federal government has enough funds to address immediate needs that have risen from hurricanes Milton and Helene, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief fund has been dwindling quickly as the agency has had to address two devastating hurricanes in quick succession — on top of what has been a historically extreme year for weather events across the country. Biden is planning to visit Florida on Sunday to see areas affected by Milton.
The president on Friday said he hasn’t spoke with House Speaker Mike Johnson, but wants to — adding the Republican leader needs to “step up” to start the process to get relief funding passed, “particularly for small businesses.” The Small Business Administration oversees a loan program for homeowners and small businesses recovering from disasters, providing between $100,000 and $2 million to rebuild destroyed or damaged property.
“We’re going to be going to the Congress. We’re going to need a lot of help. Going to need a lot more money as we identify specifically how much is needed. So I’m just telling everybody now – I don’t want to hear that this is going to be the end of it,” Biden said Friday, noting that experts estimate that “damage is around $50 billion from Hurricane Milton alone.”
SBA Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman said on Friday it is “a matter of days that we would be depleted of resources.”
“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 said in an interview on CNN.
But neither Johnson nor Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has made any indication they plan to call back members, who are on recess until after the November election.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said in Florida on Friday that while her agency has enough money to “support the immediate needs of Helene and Milton survivors, it will need more money passed soon.”
“The Disaster Relief Fund certainly does not have enough money to continue recoveries for everything that I have through the entire fiscal year,” Criswell said at a news conference in Punta Gorda.
“We’re assessing every day how much it’s drawing down on that, so I can continue to work with my leadership as well as Congress as far as when we will need a supplemental,” the administrator added. “We will need one. It’s just a matter of when.”
Hurricane funding discussions turn political
Earlier this week, Criswell said around $9 billion of a $20 billion disaster-relief infusion passed by Congress recently had been drained over the course of a week — a reflection of the quick pace at which funds are being spent as federal data suggests costlier disasters are happening more frequently.
But discussions surrounding FEMA and disaster-relief funding have taken a sharply political bent in recent weeks, a development that may complicate discussions in Congress. Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly lambasted the agency and falsely suggested that funds meant for hurricane victims are being diverted toward migrants or mysteriously disappearing.
For the third straight day, Biden on Friday called out Trump for spreading falsehoods about the federal government’s response to the storm.
Misinformation and disinformation, the president said, are “a permanent state of being for some extreme people. But I don’t think it’s what the country is about. We’re breaking through with it, we’re breaking through with the truth.”
Noting he had been in contact with Republican mayors and governors, Biden praised them for “standing up” against the deluge of lies.
“Conservative, hardcore” Republicans, Biden said “are standing up and saying, ‘It’s got to stop.’” He later called Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis “very cooperative.”
“I think those who have been spreading these lies to try to undermine the opposition are going to pay a price for it,” Biden said.
Florida Sen. Rick Scott, who is up for reelection, said Friday that while “we need to make sure” programs including the Disaster Relief Program and Small Business Administration have adequate funding, his immediate concern was making sure his state’s residents stay alive as dangers remain in Milton’s wake.
“In the short term everybody’s got to stay alive,” Scott, who spoke with Biden on Thursday, said. “We can rebuild all this. It looks horrible right now … you feel sorry for these families, but be careful.”
Mixed messages
The demands from the Biden administration to replenish emergency funds have resulted in some mixed messages on exactly what funding is needed, and when.
Biden, Harris and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas have all said this week that the Pentagon and FEMA – the tip of the spear for the immediate rescue and recovery efforts – had sufficient funding, despite burning through disaster budgets at a rapid clip.
“We have the resources to respond to the immediate needs of individuals impacted,” Mayorkas told reporters while appearing from North Carolina, a departure from a week prior when he said that FEMA would not have funding to last through hurricane season. “That being said, we will need additional funds, and we implore Congress, when it returns, to, in fact, fund FEMA as is needed.”
Biden, speaking after a hurricane briefing on Thursday, demanded Congress return to Washington sooner to replenish funds for a Small Business Administration program that, in his description, was “right at the edge” of running out.
“I think the Congress should be coming back and moving on emergency needs immediately,” Biden said Thursday, later clarifying that he wanted Congress to act “as rapidly” as possible. One week earlier, Biden pressed the issue of the SBA program in a letter to lawmakers but stopped short of demanding Congress come back to DC.
Officials have told CNN that the SBA’s disaster loan program needs an estimated $1.6 billion to meet the demand of some 300 applications per day to cover damaged property; roughly $5 billion to cover rental assistance for displaced residents through the Department of Housing and Urban Development; and about $10 billion to cover food support programs administered by the Department of Agriculture.
Lawmakers left Washington in late September, hitting the campaign trail to defend competitive maps for both parties in both chambers, with tight margins that could potentially flip the control of Congress. Both Republicans and Democrats – especially those representing the hardest-hit states across the south – are grappling with whether ushering in new aid or racking up more face-time with voters would be of greater value in the critical home stretch.
Political posturing
At the state level, political posturing is on full display as Republican leaders thread the needle of leaning on the Biden administration for financial and personnel help while also publicly backing Trump.
DeSantis declined to visit with Biden during his last visit to the state in the wake of Hurricane Helene, though Biden described DeSantis as “cooperative” with the federal government’s response and “gracious” in their interactions.
But DeSantis and Harris traded direct barbs over who harbored political motivations when Harris called – and DeSantis’ office declined.
“She has no role in this process,” DeSantis told CNBC. “And, in fact, all the storms I’ve dealt with under this administration, although I’ve worked well with the president, she has never called in Florida. She has never offered any support.”
Harris tried to put the onus back on DeSantis.
“First of all, I have called and talked with, in the course of this crisis, this most recent crisis, Democrat and Republican governors. Called, taken the call, answered the call, had a conversation. So obviously, this is not an issue that is about partisanship or politics for certain leaders — but maybe is for others,” Harris said on ABC’s “The View,” when questioned directly about DeSantis.
In more productive conversations, Biden spoke by phone with Scott, who told CNN they discussed ways Congress could re-up funding for FEMA and SBA when the time is right.
“We need to make sure all these are funded, but in the short term everybody’s got to stay alive. We can rebuild all this. It looks horrible right now … you feel sorry for these families, but be careful,” Scott told CNN’s Isabel Rosales.
In Georgia, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp has walked the tightrope of criticizing portions of the government’s response – like the limited number of counties initially approved for major disaster declarations that would ensure more aid – with welcoming what support the government could offer for the state, which saw mass power outages and downed debris during Hurricane Helene in late September.
A Kemp adviser told CNN that, in private conversations, the governor seemed “pretty pleased with everything” the federal government had done to respond to Helene and its aftermath. The source said Kemp described “normal conversations with Biden, decent conversations with agencies” as he conveyed what relief the state needed, while acknowledging that there were both benefits and limitations to federal government’s response.
Despite the heady politics clouding an already challenging recovery process, Biden gave himself high marks, too.
“There was a rough start in some places, but every governor … has acknowledged what an incredible job this team is doing,” Biden said.
CNN’s Ella Nilsen contributed to this report.
