President Joe Biden on Thursday urged Congress to quickly pass more funding for the federal response and recovery from Hurricane Helene.
“Speaker Johnson has said a [Hurricane Helene] supplemental can wait until after the election. What kind of timeline do you have in mind?” a reporter asked the president after he delivered a speech in Ray City, Georgia.
Biden: “We can’t wait. Can't wait. People need help now.”
The confirmed death toll from Helene hit 215 on Thursday, with millions of people in the Southeast still without power or homeless after the storm ripped through several states last week.
In recent days, members of Congress, Biden, and others have called on the House to reconvene for a special session to provide more Hurricane Helene recovery funding. The House has been on break since it passed a continuing resolution at the end of September to extend funding for the federal government until December, as Congress members hit the campaign trail.
But House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday threw cold water on that idea, pointing to Congress recently allocating funds to FEMA as part of the continuing resolution.
DHS Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas said Wednesday that while FEMA has enough funds in the short term, the disaster response agency needs more to make it through hurricane season, which runs through the end of November.
