Rep. Maxwell Frost, Democrat of Florida, said Sunday that Congress should return “as quickly as possible” to replenish emergency relief funds and not wait until Nov. 12, when Congress will reconvene.
“Why wait until November 12? We don’t know what’s going to happen in terms of natural disasters or storms,” Frost said Sunday on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.” “I think it’s important that an agency like FEMA has even – not just what they need, but even more than what they need, to make sure that they have the resources that are obviously necessary to help with the current operation.”
At the end of September, Congress passed a short-term spending bill that authorized FEMA to use the agency’s fiscal year 2025 resources early and divert $20 billion from the disaster relief fund. However, the emergency spending bill did not include the billions of additional dollars the White House Office of Management and Budget had requested for already existing recovery efforts.
Hurricane Helene made landfall on September 26 in the Big Bend region of Florida, before causing devastating flooding in Tennessee and North Carolina. Less than two weeks later, powerful Hurricane Milton hit to Siesta Key, Florida.
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FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said Wednesday that the agency is currently able to “support all needs of everyone affected by Helene and Milton,” but that the agency expects to need additional funds in the future.
President Biden Thursday called on lawmakers to “act as quickly as possible” on emergency funding, especially for disaster relief funding for the Small Business Administration, which is currently underway dangerously low. However, the president said he has not spoken to House Speaker Mike Johnson or asked him to convene Congress sooner. Mr. Biden on Sunday announced $600 million in aid for areas affected by Hurricanes Milton and Helene as he toured the damaged region of St. Petersburg, Florida.
So far, congressional leaders have not called on lawmakers to return to Washington before Nov. 12 to address additional disaster funding.
A group of bipartisan senators signed a letter he urged Senate leaders to reconvene lawmakers, saying, “This may even require Congress to return in October to ensure we have enough time to pass legislation before the end of this calendar year.” House lawmakers also sent a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson requesting that the House reconvene to appropriate further disaster aid.
Johnson said Sunday on “Face the Nation” that FEMA has the necessary funding until Congress returns to Washington in November.
“It can wait… because remember, Congress allocated an additional $20 billion to FEMA so that they would have the necessary resources to meet immediate needs,” Johnson said. “It would be premature to call everyone back now because these storms are so large in size and magnitude that it will take some time to make those calculations.”
Frost argued Sunday that Congress should proactively provide more disaster funding and not wait until more damage has been caused this year’s disastrous hurricane season.
“What we need to understand is, yes, FEMA has the resources necessary to deal with the current situation, but as mentioned in the previous segment, NOAA is predicting, and we have seen, that this will be one of the worst hurricanes is that we have ever seen. seasons we’ve seen.” Vorst said. “We’re not done with this hurricane season yet. It really doesn’t end until the end of November…why leave it to chance when we can make sure FEMA has the resources it needs?”
So does Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas joined “Face the Nation” on Sunday.putting pressure on Congress to respond accordingly to the unprecedented hurricane season.
“We need Congress to act quickly to fund FEMA and especially its Disaster Relief Fund, because hurricane season is not yet over, and seasons are becoming less important given the impacts of climate change and increasing severity and frequency of extreme weather events. .”
