House Democrats urge Speaker Johnson to call House back to pass emergency disaster funding

Over 60 House Democrats urged House Speaker Mike Johnson to call the House back into session and pass emergency disaster aid funding in the wake of Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

In a letter led by Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, the lawmakers said that while the recently passed spending bill included enough money for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to deal with the damage from Helene and Milton in the short term, it “falls critically short of what will be necessary to address the scale of destruction and the recovery needs.”

“As representatives of the American people, it is our duty to ensure that every community has the resources to recover and rebuild in the wake of devastation,” the lawmakers wrote. “This is not merely a matter of policy but a profound obligation to the citizens we serve, who depend on their government for support in their most critical times of need.”

Hurricane Helene ravaged much of the Southeast last week, killing over 200 people and causing an expected billions in property damage. Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida as a Category 3 storm Wednesday.

The spending bill passed late last month was a stopgap measure to fund the government until Dec. 20. Congress is scheduled to return on Nov. 12 to take up a full-year spending bill.

The latest estimate for the total cost of the damage from Helene by financial analytics company CoreLogic found that property damage costs could skyrocket up to $47.5 billion.

The stopgap ​spending bill included $20 billion for FEMA to respond to emergencies and mechanisms to allow the agency to access and use the money much faster. As of Oct. 9, $344 million in federal disaster assistance has been doled out across the six states affected by Helene, according to FEMA.

Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican, said calling an emergency session of Congress isn’t necessary at this time.

“FEMA and the administration have the resources necessary right now to address the immediate needs,” he said during a stop in North Carolina on Wednesday.

“What happens next after a storm like this is that the states then do their individual assessments and calculations of the damages, and then they submit that need to the federal government. Then Congress acts. So as soon as those calculations are prepared, Congress will act in a bipartisan fashion to supply what is needed to help these communities recover, the appropriate amount that the federal government should do,” he said.

President Biden also has pleaded for Mr. Johnson to call back Congress to pass emergency funding for the Small Business Administration’s disaster aid loan program, which he warned would run out of money before the Nov. 5 election.

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said earlier this week that FEMA had enough money to cover the immediate costs of Milton and Helene, but he warned that the funding provided by the stopgap bill was a “band-aid.”

“The president noted correctly that he has asked Congress to come back and provide funding so we have stability for the long haul, that is what we plan for,” Mr. Mayorkas told MSNBC. “But let me be clear again that we can meet the needs immediately.”