The day before Hurricane Helene slammed into Florida, the House and Senate agreed to keep the federal government operating past September 30. The temporary budget expires December 20 and included no supplemental funds for FEMA disasters.
[A]s the House and Senate’s top four leaders met last weekend to negotiate a deal to keep the government funded, they were forced to acquiesce to the demands of Congress’ most conservative fiscal hawks, whose votes were thought to be pivotal for passage. They quietly stripped the CR of almost all supplemental funding, including for FEMA, according to multiple House appropriators (emphasis added).
On Wednesday, the House passed the bipartisan continuing resolution, Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025 (H.R. 9747, 341-82) followed shortly by Senate passage (78-18).
According to Politico’s E&ENews, FEMA’s disaster fund had a deficit of almost $2 billion at the end of September.
[T]he agency has been in “immediate-needs” mode for weeks, having to hold back billions of dollars that could go to rebuilding projects in order to support more urgent life-saving work.
The CR approved Wednesday would extend FEMA’s current funding level through Dec. 20, and would allow the agency to more quickly draw from that funding to meet current needs. But the agency’s latest monthly report projects that money from the CR will last only through January and that the fund will still face a $3 billion deficit by February (emphasis added).
Those estimates were before Hurricane Helene.
“No” votes on Wednesday
Only Republicans voted against the resolution for appropriations (which must originate in the House of Representatives). In these Helene-affected states, 29 Republicans refused to fund FEMA (or any other part of the government).
These Republican U.S. Representatives in Helene-affected states voted no on the bill to keep the lights on.
Florida
Bean (FL-04), Bilrackis (FL-12), Cammack (FL-03), Donalds (FL-01), Gaetz (FL-11), Lee (FL-15), Luna (FL-13), Mills (FL-07), Posey (FL-08), Waltz (FL-06), Webster (FL-11)
Georgia
Clyde (GA-0-9), Collins (GA-10), Greene (GA-14), McCormick (GA-6)
North Carolina
Bishop (NC-08)
South Carolina
Duncan (SC-03), Fry (SC-07), Mace (SC-01), Norman (SC-05), Timmons (SC-04)
Tennessee
Burchett (TN-02), Rose (TN-06)
Virginia
Good (VA-05), Griffith (VA-09)
West Virginia
Mooney (WV-02)
These Republican Senators in Helene-affected states voted no on the bill to keep the lights on.
- Budd (NC)
- Hagerty (TN)
- Scott (SC)
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) did not vote.
Regarding FEMA’s Hurricane Helene relief efforts, they don’t get to take credit; they don’t get to complain.
More than 220 people have died; many have yet to be accounted for.
Header image source: NOAA
~~~~
The stakes in November have never been more urgent, nor the choices more extreme.
Remember: you are not voting for one person. You are voting for a team.
I’m voting for Team America not Team Russia-Hungary-North Korea.
Known for gnawing at complex questions like a terrier with a bone. Digital evangelist, writer, teacher. Transplanted Southerner; teach newbies to ride motorcycles. @kegill (Twitter and Mastodon.social); wiredpen.com