Billion-dollar Ukraine funding vs. “no further aid for Hurricane Helene”: Are the Internet’s attacks on Biden justified?

Hurricane Helene’s landfall last week in the southeastern United States caused catastrophic devastation in states including Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee. As these US states now stand their ground and deal with the catastrophic consequences, social media is once again raging in a storm hoping to shift blame for the natural disaster in favor of a mere sense of coping mechanism. Right now, the Biden administration is facing this wrath left and right, with Donald Trump making some false accusations against the Commander-in-Chief on one side and internet users turning on the president on the other.

Viral post starts hate campaign against Biden government

In particular, a post shared by the conservative account @EndWokeness fired a toxic missile at the POTUS, tweeting: “$2.4 billion in aid for Ukraine” vs. “No more aid for Hurricane Helene” – in Three days apart.”

The post included two videos: one in which Biden announced aid to Ukraine and the other in which he said no further resources could be made available to the federal government. The latter response came about in conversations with ABC News, as he pointed out: “We have a significant amount planned in advance, even though they haven’t asked for it yet – haven’t asked for it yet.”

Also read | Biden slams Trump’s ‘lying’ claims amid backlash over ‘sleeping’ during Hurricane Helene damage; FEMA also responds

Several other posts, fueled by the same malice, insinuated that the victims of the “monster storm” in North Carolina, i.e. citizens of the United States, were an afterthought for President Joe Biden. Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh wrote on

The divisive narrative fueled online doubles down by suggesting that no funding is in sight for those affected by Helene’s anger, while the Biden administration continues to pour out billions in support of Ukraine.

What do official White House announcements cement?

The misleading claims are easily countered by days-old official announcements and press releases from the White House.

On Saturday, September 28, Biden approved the “Florida Declaration of Disaster,” ordering “state, tribal, and local recovery efforts in areas affected by Hurricane Helene to be supplemented with federal assistance beginning September 23, 2024.” The aid mentioned extended to providing grants for “temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property damage, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster.”

In addition, federal funds were also made available on a cost-share basis:

• For nationwide hazard reduction measures” and
• To state, tribal and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations for emergency relief efforts in Charlotte, Citrus, Dixie, Franklin, Hernando, Hillsborough, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lee, Levy, Madison, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, Sarasota, Taylor and Wakulla.

Additionally, before the hurricane hit Florida, impacting other states, the White House confirmed that emergency declaration requests from the governors of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina had been approved, Newsweek reported. The Biden administration also authorized the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to “provide emergency response assistance to save lives, protect property, public health and safety, and fund other emergency responses.”

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The Biden administration’s continued response

Another follow-up statement from the briefing room, released as a “fact sheet” on September 30, confirmed that the Biden-Harris administration was continuing its federal response to assist communities affected by Hurricane Helene. In addition to the regular briefings the president and vice president received from their teams, Biden spoke with the governors of NC, Georgia, SC and the mayor of Asheville, as well as other state and local officials.

Hoping to expedite the delivery of assistance to victims, particularly those in remote communities, POTUS directed FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell to identify the best possible solutions to effectively convey the task at hand.

The briefing clearly highlighted that “more than 3,500 personnel from across the federal workforce are deployed supporting Hurricane Helene response efforts in affected states.”

Additionally, “Search and rescue efforts by state, local and federal partners are ongoing, and hundreds of additional personnel will arrive in the region in the coming days.” Over 1,250 urban search and rescue personnel are in Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee in use. Together with local and state responders, teams have rescued or assisted more than 1,900 people, including nearly 900 in North Carolina.”

To support search and rescue operations, the Ministry of Defense has 30 high-water vehicles on the ground to assist rescuers, as well as 18 helicopters equipped with lifting capabilities to transport supplies and equipment, among other things, if necessary.

Other federal government multi-agency support efforts included sending additional generators, 150 ambulances, trailers full of meals and water, and 215 additional search and rescue personnel to North Carolina. Meanwhile, food and water supplies were delivered to affected states, with FEMA sending over 1.9 million meals, more than 1 million liters of water, 30 generators and over 95,000 tarps, among other items.

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Support for Ukraine vs. disaster relief after Hurricane Helene

As for U.S. support for Ukraine, Biden announced $8 billion in military aid on Thursday, possibly the final aid package he will approve before the end of his term. According to estimates by the Kiel Institute for Economic Research, US contributions to Ukraine’s fight against Russia from January 24, 2022 to June 30, 2024 amounted to more than $80 billion. Nevertheless, the allocation of funds to support Ukraine and FEMA assistance are different entities.

As of March 27, 2023, the Defense Department’s Office of Inspector General said that “since February 2022, the U.S. Congress has appropriated more than $113 billion for the U.S. government’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.” However, the Kiel Institute notes that “a large portion” of the billions in aid “does not flow directly to Ukraine, but is used for a variety of spending purposes.”

“Examples of this include spending on natural disaster preventive funds, research for military or nuclear purposes, the prevention of terrorism and cybercrime, investments in national infrastructure, large purchases of military equipment to remain in the United States… or funds used for the admission of Ukraine “Refugees in the USA.”

Biden could call a special session and ask Congress to pass special aid for the Helene damage despite the approval of the bridge funding

Last Wednesday, Congress passed a short-term spending bill to prevent a government shutdown before the November election. However, Biden finally said on Monday that he might call Congress into a special session to provide additional funding to counter the effects of the “historic storm.”

Biden, who is expected to make his rounds in North Carolina on Wednesday, dismissed Trump’s criticism on September 30 when the former president falsely claimed that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp could not contact Biden given the storm’s aftermath. The Republican nominee also criticized the president for spending the weekend in Delaware, but Biden said Monday that he was “commanding the scene” and “was on the phone for at least two hours yesterday and the day before.”