Hurricane Helene renews calls for Congress to pass disaster funding

The widespread devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene is upping the pressure on lawmakers for a looming end-of-year fight over disaster funding.

While funding negotiators on both sides acknowledge the need for additional resources for disaster recovery, it has already been a point of contention in spending talks and the dynamic could continue when a divided Congress returns from recess.

President Biden on Monday said he may request Congress reconvene during the October break to pass emergency supplemental funding for storm recovery, and lawmakers from hard-hit states signaled a desire to do so.

But it appears unlikely Congress will return early, with lawmakers spread across the country campaigning ahead of November and GOP leaders saying the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funding included in last week’s stopgap spending bill is sufficient to address Helene.

“Congress has previously provided the funds it needs to respond, so we will make sure that those resources are appropriately allocated,” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Tuesday.

And House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said this week the funding legislation Congress passed has ensured FEMA “has sufficient resources in the near term.”

Congress passed a three-month stopgap last week to prevent government funding from lapsing ahead of a Sept. 30 deadline to avert a shutdown. 

Notably missing from the bipartisan agreement, which was passed a day before Helene made landfall in Florida, was billions of dollars in additional funding for FEMA’s disaster relief fund (DRF). 

Appropriators said the deal instead allows for the agency to use the fund’s resources faster for disaster response for the duration of the stopgap, allowing FEMA access to draw from roughly $20 billion starting Oct. 1.

But funding negotiators on both sides have acknowledged the need for more resources in the months ahead.

Sen. Katie Britt (Ala.), top Republican on the subcommittee that oversees funding for FEMA, said in a statement this week that resources made available in the fund will be “pushed out the door through existing processes,” but she added the DRF will “need additional funding in the coming months for the remainder of fiscal year 2025.”

“We will undoubtedly learn more about short- and long-term recovery needs in the coming days and weeks, and I look forward to hearing from the administration on what additional resources are needed to aid our fellow Americans who have lost loved ones, livelihoods, property, and possessions due to Hurricane Helene.”

However, disaster aid was a thorny subject for a few in the latest round of spending talks, with some Democrats fuming last month as congressional leaders jammed through a stopgap they said misses the mark on dollars for disaster relief. 

“This bill risks another depletion of FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund,” Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) said at the time. “Spending down next year’s funds early, especially as we deal with more catastrophic weather, threatens to create a perfect storm by our next funding deadline.”

House Republicans had previously included $10 billion in additional funding for FEMA as part of their initial six-month stopgap offer. But the funding fell out amid calls from hardline conservatives pushing for more to be done to curb government spending. Other Republicans also expressed confidence that the funding in the shorter stopgap plan that was eventually adopted was sufficient.

“It provides for up to $20 billion and we’re not going to run out of money to respond to natural disasters. They didn’t add money, but we can use it faster, and it resolves any concerns I have,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, told The Hill last week.

“We’ll talk about it in December, particularly if we keep having natural disasters,” Kennedy said. 

But since the hurricane hit, killing at least 150 people, lawmakers have piled up calls for Congress to come back immediately and pass a supplemental funding bill. 

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) on Tuesday told reporters “My view is we should come back and get the job done.”

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) on Monday said that the Senate should “immediately reconvene” to pass a disaster supplemental aid package. 

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said in a post on X that it is “imperative that Congress reconvene to pass a supplemental aid package for the damage done to the Southeast by Hurricane Helene and also to provide missile defense assistance to Israel.”

While FEMA has said it has the funds to cover its response to Hurricane Helene, officials have warned the agency could have to again cut back on funding in the coming months, potentially at the expense of reimbursing communities for public assistance and hazard mitigation projects. 

The agency had similarly cut back earlier this year as funds ran down. 

“We went into Immediate Needs Funding as our Disaster Relief Fund was running low,” FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell told reporters last week, adding that by doing so, $9 billion worth of projects had to be put on hold. 

Criswell said at the time that once the stopgap funding measure that passed last week to avoid a government shutdown takes effect, the agency will be able to pay for those projects for the time being.

But, she added that without supplemental funding from Congress, FEMA will likely need to dip back into the Immediate Need Funding (INF) – and put more projects on hold — by January.

Yucel Ors, the legislative director for public safety and crime prevention at the National League of Cities, said that without supplemental funding, putting those projects on hold could hamper recovery efforts in the months after a disaster takes place.

“They’re still clearing up debris. They’re still building the infrastructure, the roads, the communication systems, the power lines and everything else. Those take a long time in that recovery process,” Ors told The Hill. 

“When FEMA puts in the INF limitations, that funding could be frozen until FEMA gets the additional tranche of money from Congress,” he added. “That would mean all those recovery processes, either local governments or the states, have to put up that money and hopefully get reimbursed by FEMA down the road or it could mean that these recovery processes could take a much longer time.”

 Ors noted that a longer recovery process could have negative impacts to cities, not only because it takes longer to build up the infrastructure itself, but also because governments often take out loans for recovery and delays in reimbursements could mean they’re paying higher interest rates. 

This could also have knock-on effects, limiting the other services a local government has to offer. 

“The more of this money that goes towards disaster recovery, the harder it is going to [be] for cities to actually fund those other projects that they might be working on to make their communities safer, to make their communities stronger and be economically competitive,” Ors said. 

Also at risk without supplemental appropriations is funding for projects that help localities proactively prepare for extreme weather events — things like storm drain management, levee fortification and wildfire barriers. 

“If these programs are cut back, we do know that the cost of disaster recovery goes up,” Ors said. 

He called for FEMA to be “fully funded” through a supplemental package. Other advocacy groups made similar calls. 

“With payments from key FEMA programs on hold, communities still reeling from previous disasters may opt to hold off on permanent recovery work such as repairing damaged facilities, restoring roads and bridges, or rebuilding infrastructure to be more resilient against future disasters,” Julie Seger, government relations and policy director of the American Flood Coalition, told The Hill in a written statement. 

“Congress must provide consistent, long-term [Disaster Relief Fund] resources to ensure FEMA can continue  lifesaving emergency operations without delaying hard-fought recoveries for communities across the country,” Seger added.