House Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday did not commit to reconvening Congress before the election after President Joe Biden pressed congressional leaders over possible funding shortfalls in the wake of Hurricane Helene.
In an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Johnson was asked about Biden’s letter to congressional leaders on Friday asking for more money for federal disaster recovery efforts, and after Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned that the department does not have enough money to get through the crisis. remainder of the hurricane season.
In his letter, the president urged Congress to restore funding to the Small Business Administration’s disaster loan program, which was already facing potential funding shortfalls before Hurricane Helene devastated parts of the Southeast. The president noted that the White House requested more funding for the program as Congress prepared a short-term funding bill that passed last month to avert a government shutdown.
Asked whether he would reconvene Congress before the election, Johnson said: “We will reconvene immediately after the election.”
“That’s in thirty days. The problem with these hurricanes and disasters of this magnitude is that it takes a while to calculate the actual damage, and states are going to take some time to do that,” Johnson said, adding that determining “specific needs and requests at based on actual damage” from natural disasters takes time.
Johnson noted that before Congress went into recess the day before Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida, Congress had appropriated an additional $20 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to address immediate needs.
“Then Congress always takes the appropriate approach to provide what is needed,” he said. “Congress will provide that. We will help people in these disaster-prone areas. It’s an appropriate role for the federal government, and you’ll have bipartisan support for that, and it will all happen in due course, and we will get that job done. We don’t have to worry about that.”
Johnson’s comments come after Biden said in remarks at the White House last week that he expects to ask Congress for an additional funding request for areas affected by Hurricane Helene.
When asked at the time whether he would ask Congress to return from recess for a special session for an additional request, the president left the possibility open, saying, “That’s something I may have to ask for, but there hasn’t been a decision made.”
Congress has moved quickly in the past to fund natural disaster relief, even during recess, a Biden administration official noted when contacted for comment.
Johnson’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Johnson also faced pressure over false claims by some Republicans that FEMA used money for migrants who entered the country illegally instead of disaster relief, which White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called “categorically false” on Friday.
The speaker acknowledged that funding streams for border and hurricane response at FEMA are different, before further emphasizing that FEMA’s mission is to assist people affected by natural disasters, and not to engage in funding that helps migrants who crossed the southern border.
Johnson claimed, without evidence, that the Biden administration, Vice President Kamala Harris and Mayorkas were “involved in this program,” saying they used taxpayer money to help migrants resettle by reimbursing nongovernmental organizations that send migrants to brought to the country.
“The American people are disgusted by this, and so are Republicans in Congress,” he said. “And it will stop after November 5 because we will have a unified government with Republicans at the helm and we will bring common sense back to this situation.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
