Biden sending emergency funding bill for disaster relief to Congress

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden will send Congress an emergency funding bill “in the coming days,” with the intent to address the urgent need for disaster relief throughout the United States following a brutal storm season, a White House official said in a memo on Monday.

Several agencies said they are running low of money in the wake of back-to-back major hurricanes, the memo stated.

“The Biden-Harris Administration stands ready to work with lawmakers to deliver the vital resources our communities need with strong bipartisan and bicameral support — just as Speaker Mike Johnson has promised,” Shalanda Young, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, wrote in the memo.

It emphasized the fact that Congress last passed a comprehensive disaster relief package in 2022, and it stated that the Biden-Harris administration would be putting forth a new one in a matter of days.

“We look forward to working with Congress to quickly pass emergency funding so the Federal Government can meet its obligations to the American people,” Young’s memo continued.

However, it also noted that prior attempts to secure such funding, including outreach as recently as June, had failed to garner support.

Young also pointed to Johnson’s remarks after Hurricane Helene, which were delivered in North Carolina in October.

“What happens next after a storm like this is that the states then do their individual assessments and calculations of the damages and then they submit that need to the federal government. Then Congress acts,” Johnson said at the time. “So as soon as those calculations are prepared, Congress will act in a bipartisan fashion to supply what is needed to help these communities recover, the appropriate amount that the federal government should do.”

The memo also said that FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund, which has been used in the immediate aftermath of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, “is in need of additional funding.”

“To ensure these communities get comprehensive recovery assistance, our Administration has made multiple requests to Congress outlining the need for emergency funding to address these disasters, and detailing the consequences of failing to deliver this aid,” Young wrote.

“To date, Congress has yet to act,” she added.

Over the last week, the heads of several departments, including at the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Agriculture Department of Transportation, have written letters to Congress expressing their need for additional funding.