President Joe Biden’s administration is seeking $98.6 billion in emergency disaster relief funding from Congress to address the devastation from recent back-to-back hurricanes that hammered the US southeast and left billions in damage.
The president’s budget chief, Shalanda Young, on a call Monday sought to convey a sense of urgency, warning that agencies on the ground helping affected residents were running low on funds to address the situation and saying there was “no room for politics in disaster relief.”
“Now that Congress has returned, the administration is once again transmitting an emergency supplemental funding request to Congress so we can work together in a bipartisan manner to deliver the support and relief our communities need and deserve,” said Young, the director of the Office of Management and Budget.
The administration sent its request to lawmakers on Monday.
Hurricane Milton hammered Florida in early October with Category 3 winds just weeks after Hurricane Helene caused large-scale flooding and devastation in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. The damage from Milton alone could be around $50 billion, Biden said in October.
Short-term federal response funding for Helene and Milton has been supported through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster Relief Fund, according to Young, but that account is running low and doesn’t cover costs for long-term recovery, including housing, agriculture losses and certain transportation infrastructure.
The administration’s request includes a $40 billion request for the Department of Homeland Security to provide funding for FEMA’s disaster relief fund, meant to address expected disaster costs through fiscal year 2025.
In addition, the administration is seeking $24 billion for the US Department of Agriculture to provide help to farmers who experienced crop or livestock losses, aid with debris removal in impacted communities, repair rural infrastructure, and bolster grants for food and nutrition programs.
The request also includes $12 billion for the Department of Housing and Urban Development; $8 billion for the Transportation Department; $4 billion to the Environmental Protection Agency for water-system upgrades to mitigate future damages from natural disasters and for additional recovery work; and $3 billion for Health and Human Services to keep up health care in hurricane-hit areas.
The administration is also asking for $3 billion for State and Tribal Assistance Grants.
House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters on Monday that there was bipartisan interest in passing a disaster aid measure, but added that involved “a deliberate process that we go through.”
“We’ll go to work, of course, evaluating that,” Johnson said at the Capitol. “And we’re going to make sure we deliver for the hurricane victims and the people that have suffered from that.”
But Senate Appropriations Chair Committee Chair Patty Murray said in a statement that Congress had waited too long too pass legislation.
Lawmakers must pass a government funding bill by Dec. 20 to avoid a shutdown and House Republican leaders are hopeful they can approve a stopgap into March, allowing incoming President-elect Donald Trump and a GOP-controlled Senate to work with them to put into place their own funding priorities.
Federal agencies including the Department of Agriculture and Department of Homeland Security have written to congressional leaders pushing for the need to replenish key disaster response programs and fund long-term recovery for communities suffering since 2022, according to Young.
The last time Congress passed a similar package was in December 2022, she said.
While disaster aid typically draws support from both parties, funding has repeatedly been caught up in partisan battles in recent years.
Congress and previous administrations provided $90 billion in aid after Hurricane Katrina in 2005; more than $50 billion for Hurricane Sandy in 2013; and over $120 billion following Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria in 2017.
Photo: A destroyed home after Hurricane Milton in St. Pete Beach, Florida. (Photographer: Tristan Wheelock/Bloomberg)
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