‘People need help now’: Biden says Congress can’t wait to deliver hurricane relief bill

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Congress should not wait until after the Nov. 5 election to pass additional spending legislation to fund relief efforts after Hurricane Helene and other devastating storms, President Joe Biden said.

Biden, who spent the day touring storm damage in Florida and Georgia, rejected House Speaker Mike Johnson’s suggestion that a delay until after the election might be acceptable rather than bringing Congress back from its election recess to call the meeting.

Asked about the speaker’s suggestion that an additional relief bill be put on hold for now, Biden replied: “We can’t wait… people need help now.”

The president’s comments followed a speech he gave last week at a farm in Ray City, Georgia, after the Category 4 storm left a path of destruction stretching from Florida to North Carolina.

He said he had been briefed by officials during his previous stay in Florida about the damage caused by the 15-foot storm surge – a wall of water high enough to submerge a three-story building – before leaving Georgia flew.

“I came here to Georgia to meet all of you and see firsthand how you are doing … because we really are in this together,” Biden said.

“In times like these, it’s time to put politics aside… it’s not about one state versus another state, we are the United States. “There are no Democrats or Republicans here.”

Biden recalled his commitment to being a “president for all Americans,” noting that the major legislation enacted during his time in office was largely passed on a bipartisan basis.

Additionally, he said these bills would have sent far more money to so-called “red” states, which typically vote Republican, than to “blue” states, which lean Democratic.

“Our job is to help as many people as possible… If you do that, I hope that we can once again break this rabid partisanship that exists – I mean it sincerely, there is no justification for it,” Biden said.

He added that the government wanted to help “as many people as possible,” which is why he ordered resources to be pre-allocated throughout the southeastern United States as Helene approached the Florida coast.

“In addition, I immediately approved the emergency declarations requested by your governor and others so that we could all focus on first responders and establishing emergency operations centers. That was the focus,” he added.

Biden said federal assistance being provided in affected areas also includes help from the Department of Agriculture and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which are sending workers door-to-door to register people for assistance – including farmers – so they You can receive help in the form of money or needed supplies of everything from food to medicine to housing assistance and animal feed.

“We will preserve and persevere through all of this. Because folks, this United States of America – the United States of America. “There is nothing we cannot do – nothing beyond our capacity – if we work together and put politics aside,” he said.

The president’s comments came just days after he told it The Independent that he had not ruled out calling Congress back into a special session to consider a bill for additional funding for disaster relief.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said his department had sufficient resources to handle initial relief efforts against Helene, but warned that more money would need to be allocated to handle a long-term recovery and that more hurricanes were expected to hit the region this season.