Speaker Johnson says Congress has provided funds for Helene response

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Independent

10/01/24 6:30 PM ET


Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Tuesday said Congress has already authorized the disaster relief funds needed for the immediate response to Helene, the storm that has ravaged multiple states from Florida up through western North Carolina and Tennessee.

Speaking at the New York Stock Exchange before delivering remarks on his economic agenda, Johnson noted a replenishment of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) disaster relief fund was included in a three-month stopgap government funding bill that Congress passed, and that President Biden signed into law, last week.

“Congress has previously provided the funds it [FEMA] needs to respond, so we will make sure that those resources are appropriately allocated,” Johnson said.

Johnson’s comments come a day after President Biden said that he may request that Congress return from recess to pass a supplemental relief bill, saying his “expectation” is to ask for more money to fund Helene relief efforts. “That is something I may have to request, but no decisions are made yet,” Biden said Monday when asked if he would ask Congress to return to pass the bill.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4910535-mike-johnson-helene-funds/

[SunSeeker]

1. No they didn't Mike, you LIAR. We don't even know the full extent of the damages.

Indeed, as the House and Senate’s top four leaders met last weekend to negotiate a deal to keep the government funded, they were forced to acquiesce to the demands of Congress’ most conservative fiscal hawks, whose votes were thought to be pivotal for passage. They quietly stripped the CR of almost all supplemental funding, including for FEMA, according to multiple House appropriators.

FEMA’s disaster relief fund is staring down a nearly $2 billion deficit at the end of the month, and the agency has been in “immediate-needs” mode for weeks, having to hold back billions of dollars that could go to rebuilding projects in order to support more urgent life-saving work.

The CR approved Wednesday would extend FEMA’s current funding level through Dec. 20, and would allow the agency to more quickly draw from that funding to meet current needs. But the agency’s latest monthly report projects that money from the CR will last only through January and that the fund will still face a $3 billion deficit by February.

https://www.eenews.net/articles/lawmakers-stunned-as-disaster-funds-left-out-of-stopgap-bill-2/


Preliminary estimates of total damages and economic loss from Helene could reach $110 Billion. https://fortune.com/2024/09/29/hurricane-helene-total-damage-economic-impact-estimate-110-billion/

[littlemissmartypants]

2. I wish I could rec this to infinity. MJ is an idiot shill who thinks he can win a war of words

With President Biden and the rest of the Democrats.

MJ's flight to righteousness on his fruitless quest for the moral high ground is not unlike the one Icarus is famous for that resulted in his crashing burning.

And yes, it's personal.

Thanks, SunSeeker.

❤️