House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday that it would be "premature" for Congress to vote now on monetary aid for victims hit by Hurricanes Helene and Milton, so lawmakers will decide next month when they return to Washington after the Nov. 5 election.
"What happens after every storm is that the states have to assess and calculate the actual needs, and then they submit to Congress that request," the Louisiana Republican told CBS News' "Face the Nation." "As soon as that is done, Congress will meet. And in bipartisan fashion, we will address those needs. We'll provide the additional resources."
He added that on the day before Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida before heading up through North Carolina and Georgia, "Congress appropriated $20 billion additional to FEMA [the Federal Emergency Management Agency] so that they would have the necessary resources to address immediate needs."
But as of this morning, Johnson said, less than 2% of those funds have been spent, meaning FEMA "must do its job."
Show anchor Margaret Brennan pointed out that FEMA has reported that there is $11 billion left of the $20 billion that was allocated, but Johnson said the agency had "obligated some funds, but they've only distributed 2%."
"FEMA was slow to respond," he added. "They did not do the job that we all expect and hope that they will do. And there's going to be a lot of assessment about that as well in the days ahead."
He also insisted that it is not a gamble to wait to allocate funding, even though the hurricane season is continuing.
"Congress can't meet and just send money on a guess or an estimate of what the damages are," he said. "The way supplemental disaster funding is provided is that the state sends in actual needs. It's assessed by Congress and then handed out that way."
Meanwhile, on NBC News' "Meet the Press," Johnson also discussed claims from the Small Business Administration that has said it could run out of funds within days. The agency provides low-interest loans for renters, homeowners, and more.
He said that while it's premature for Congress to be called in early for more funding, he insisted that "Congress will not leave small business owners waiting."
"I am a small business owner, and I'm from a hurricane-prone state: Louisiana," he said. "We're kind of experts in this disaster recovery. The SBA loan, as you indicated, is a small-interest loan that helps people bridge the gap and get back on their feet. But importantly, about that program, it is a supplement to private insurance and other disaster relief funding."
And like the FEMA funding, it will take a few weeks to calculate what is needed, the speaker said.
Congress is scheduled to come back just after the Nov. 5 election, and that will coincide with the time for FEMA and SBA loans to be processed.
"FEMA has received thousands of applications already, and they're going through that laborious process of affirming and confirming it," he said. "But when the time is needed, we will cover the needs of small businesses. Congress is all on board."
He further insisted that Congress would do "whatever is necessary" to cover the needs of the storm victims, but said it will take time.
"The magnitude of these storms was enormous," said Johnson. "I mean, it's on the scale almost of Katrina, which we're still recovering from 20 years later in Louisiana. I know this process well. But the states have to go and calculate and assess the need, and then they submit that to Congress, the speaker said.
"So as soon as those numbers are submitted to Congress, we will act," he said. "It'll be bipartisan, and we'll cover the needs."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.