Source: Newsweek
Amid the impact of Hurricane Helene, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson refused to commit to reconvening the House before Election Day to aid recovery efforts.
President Joe Biden has joined the growing calls from Democrats to bring Congress back to pass additional disaster aid funding in the wake of the devastation in southeastern states, like North Carolina, caused by the recent hurricanes.
As of Oct. 20, Johnson has said he will not call lawmakers back early, saying Congress has provided FEMA with the money it needs to respond.
Last week, President Joe Biden stated in a letter that lawmakers should return to Capitol Hill “immediately” from their pre-election recess.
“I have seen firsthand the devastation that Hurricane Helene brought to communities across the Southeast,” President Biden stated in the letter. “I urge you to keep faith with those communities and provide the requested additional funding to rebuild housing infrastructure, to support farmers and ranchers with crop losses, to address impacted schools, and to repair damaged Federal highways. In addition to FEMA’s ongoing support, these are the resources that communities need and deserve to fully respond to and recover from devastating events.”
In September, numerous Republicans, including North Carolina’s Sen. Ted Budd and Rep. Dan Bishop, voted against extending funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
According to Cardinal & Pine, this isn’t the first time state Republicans have voted against disaster relief. After Hurricane Sandy in 2013, 180 lawmakers — 179 Republicans and one Democrat — voted against it, including Republican Reps. Virginia Foxx, Patrick McHenry and Richard Hudson.
In 2019, 58 Republicans, including Budd and Foxx, also voted against a sweeping $19.1 billion disaster relief package.
According to Brooks Rainey Pearson, a senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, in 2014, the GOP-controlled legislature passed laws that weakened protection for wetlands, which when protected, can help reduce flooding by absorbing excessive rainfall.
Three years after the vote, the legislature made it easier for developers to pave green spaces – further increasing the risk of flooding in the area.
