Biden warns hurricane-relief funding needed soon as he calls on Congress to ‘step up’

By Michael Williams and Betsy Klein, CNN

Washington (CNN) — 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.

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.”

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 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.”

CNN’s Ella Nilsen contributed to this report.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.