House Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday did not commit to calling Congress into session before the election after President Joe Biden pressed congressional leaders about potential funding shortfalls in the wake of Hurricane Helene.
Johnson was asked in an interview on Fox News Sunday Biden’s letter to congressional leaders The federal disaster recovery effort and the aftermath called for more money on Friday Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned that the department doesn’t have enough money to get through the rest of the hurricane season.
In his letter, the president called on Congress to restore funding to the Small Business Administration’s disaster loan program, which faced a potential funding shortfall before Hurricane Helene devastated parts of the Southeast. The President noted that the White House Congress a short-term funding legislation passed last month to avert a government shutdown.
Pressed on whether he would reconvene Congress before the election, Johnson replied, “We’ll be back in session right after the election.”
“This is 30 days from now. The thing about these hurricanes and disasters of this magnitude is that it takes a while to calculate the actual damage, and states need some time to do that,” Johnson said, adding that “it’s determined based on actual needs and wants. damages caused by natural disasters” takes time.
Before Congress went into recess, the day before Hurricane Helene hit Florida, Congress appropriated an additional $20 billion to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to address emergency needs, Johnson noted.
“From now on, Congress always takes a must-have approach to provide what is needed,” he said. “Congress will provide. We will help people in these disaster areas. It’s an appropriate role for the federal government, and you’re going to have bipartisan support for it, and it’s going to happen in time, and we’re going to get it done. There should be no worries about that.”
Johnson’s comments came after Biden said in a White House speech last week that he expected to ask Congress for additional funding for areas affected by Hurricane Helene.
Asked at the time whether he would ask Congress to return from recess for a special session for an additional request, the president said, “That might be something I would have to request, but no decision has been made yet.”
Congress took prompt action A Biden administration official, when reached for comment, noted that in the past he has been unable to fund disaster relief efforts, even while on vacation.
Johnson’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Johnson was also under pressure FEMA false claims by some Republicans Instead of responding to the disaster, which White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called “absolutely false” on Friday, it used funds for migrants entering the country illegally.
The speaker acknowledged that FEMA’s funding streams for border and hurricane response are different before continuing to insist that FEMA’s mission is to help people affected by natural disasters and not deal with funding that helps migrants crossing the southern border.
Johnson said, without evidence, that the Biden administration, Vice President Kamala Harris and Mayorkas are “running this program,” using taxpayer dollars to help resettle migrants by paying non-governmental organizations that transport migrants into the country.
“The American people are disgusted by this, and so are Republicans in Congress,” he said. “And it’s going to stop after November 5 because we’re going to have a united government with responsible Republicans and we’re going to bring some sanity back to this situation.”
Sahil Kapoor, Scott Wong, Sarah Dean and Syedah Asghar contributed.