Americans need FEMA’s help now. Republicans would rather not do it

Speaker Johnson, who has tried to help Republicans win House seats so he can continue as speaker, shrugged off the idea of returning to session and governing at a time of national crisis.

Let’s start by acknowledging that almost every national event that dominates the news cycle during a presidential election inevitably also becomes the subject of intense – and all too often – dishonest political machinations.

Back-to-back massive hurricanes in the six weeks before the country elects either Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump? Let the games begin.

How the Democrats and Republicans have approached everything reveals a lot about where they currently stand as political parties.

Many Democrats in the US House of Representatives called for an immediate increase in disaster relief funding. Many Republicans, from Trump on down, instead resorted to conspiracies, including lies about withholding aid in hurricane-hit states and the completely insane claim that Democrats are somehow manipulating the weather to direct storms toward Republican strongholds.

With all the hustle and bustle, it’s not expected that much will happen between now and the election. Some political points are being scored while the electorate is inundated with disinformation. Govern? Please. There is an election to win.

Democrats have called on Congress to provide more funding to FEMA. Republicans have not responded.

Sixty-three Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives wrote a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, on Wednesday just before Hurricane Milton hit Florida, urging him to reconvene Congress from his election leave to approve more funding for federal disaster relief agencies Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). This came 13 days after Hurricane Helene brought death and destruction to southern states, particularly western North Carolina.

U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, an Ohio Democrat who organized the effort, wrote that the “unprecedented natural disasters” left parts of the country in “urgent need of additional and comprehensive disaster relief funding.” Nine representatives from North Carolina, Florida and Georgia signed after Helene met their states.

Kaptur warned Johnson that a recent rolling resolution to fund the federal government from October 1 to December 20, passed just a day before Helene’s landfall, “provided initial relief funds, but these provisions fell well short of what is needed.”

Many Republicans who control the House of Representatives opposed this continuing resolution, which passed on September 25 with overwhelming Democratic support. That legislation removed a $10 billion increase in funding for FEMA that was opposed by far-right Republicans.

Opinion: The destruction of Helene caused excitement among North Carolina election officials. Trump doesn’t help.

No House Republicans signed Kaptur’s letter this week. And only about 30% of House Democrats joined the effort.

That means the letter served better to draw attention to itself and the fight over FEMA than to increase disaster relief funding.

Speaker Johnson would rather campaign for Trump

Johnson has been on the campaign trail trying to help Republicans win or retain House seats so his party can maintain control and he can continue to serve as speaker. He shrugged off the idea of returning to session and governing at a time of national crisis.

He was in central Pennsylvania on Friday trying to deter U.S. Rep. Scott Perry – an election denier who wanted to help Trump overturn his 2020 loss to President Joe Biden – from a rising Democratic opponent.

Johnson’s justification for not calling Congress back to work inadvertently exposes the lies Trump and other Republicans have spread about FEMA funding under Harris and Biden.

Opinion: Trump and Vance seem very upset about fact checking. Maybe lie less?

When Johnson visited Asheville, North Carolina, on Wednesday to survey the damage there, he cited the continuing resolution that called for “$20 billion to go to FEMA to help them meet emerging needs.” the urgent needs that arose after the hurricane.” .”

In short, the House Speaker claimed that FEMA now has the money it needs to get the job done. If true, Johnson essentially dismissed claims from Trump and others that FEMA is somehow broken and not helping hurricane victims.

Trump is doing what we all know. He’s lying.

Trump has repeatedly claimed that FEMA was out of money, a lie that was easily debunked. Because his entire re-election strategy is based on blaming Biden and Harris for the impact of illegal immigration, he has amplified false claims that the federal government has wasted all of FEMA’s funding on programs to assist and house migrants.

Congress controls the federal budget and appropriates money for specific purposes. It must be issued like this. This year there is funding for migrant programs that are completely independent of the disaster relief funds. This is nothing new. The same migrant programs were funded during Trump’s single term as president.

In fact, as president, Trump diverted money from disaster relief funds to instead fund efforts to control illegal immigration at the border.

That’s so Trump – falsely accusing Biden and Harris of what he did as president.

It appears Americans who need more help will have to wait until after the election

Let’s conclude with a quick look at how the Republican Party has fallen in love with lies. U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican and well-known conspiracy theory believer, has been insisting on social media since last week that the government controls the weather.

Biden’s response to Greene and other weather conspiracy theorists: “It’s so stupid. It has to stop.”

He’s right about the stupidity, but it’s unrealistic that Greene and her MAGA allies will return to a reality-based form of politics that prioritizes actual governing over attention-grabbing, fundraiser-boosting disinformation spectacles.

The election will take place in 23 days. There are still seven weeks until the end of hurricane season. If this all seems like an eternity, blame disinformation and favoring political points over governing.

All we can do is hunker down and wait out the continued nonsense that will obviously be howled now, on Election Day and probably beyond.

Follow USA TODAY election columnist Chris Brennan on X, formerly known as Twitter: @ByChrisBrennan

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Americans need FEMA’s help now. Republicans would rather not do it

Speaker Johnson, who has tried to help Republicans win House seats so he can continue as speaker, shrugged off the idea of returning to session and governing at a time of national crisis.

Democrats have called on Congress to provide more funding to FEMA. Republicans have not responded.

Speaker Johnson would rather campaign for Trump

Trump is doing what we all know. He’s lying.

It appears Americans who need more help will have to wait until after the election

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Americans need FEMA’s help now. Republicans would rather not do it

Speaker Johnson, who has tried to help Republicans win House seats so he can continue as speaker, shrugged off the idea of ​​returning to session and governing at a time of national crisis.

Democrats have called on Congress to provide more funding to FEMA. Republicans have not responded.

Speaker Johnson would rather campaign for Trump

Trump is doing what we all know. He’s lying.

It appears Americans who need more help will have to wait until after the election

Related posts:

By Hudson Brooklyn

Related Post

Oswego child sex abuse convict likely to spend life in prison: SA

The source |wife claims Diddy sexually assaulted her over a comment about his involvement in Tupac’s murder

Jackson, NJ – Multi-car accident with injuries on Toms River Road

You Missed

Oswego child sex abuse convict likely to spend life in prison: SA

The source |wife claims Diddy sexually assaulted her over a comment about his involvement in Tupac’s murder

Jackson, NJ – Multi-car accident with injuries on Toms River Road

Tragic death of a teenager due to wrong injection by doctor in Lahore

Speaker Johnson, who has tried to help Republicans win House seats so he can continue as speaker, shrugged off the idea of returning to session and governing at a time of national crisis.