Federal Employees Deal with Funding Concerns, Misinformation, as Hurricane Relief Efforts Continue

Federal employees continue to help on the frontlines following the recent hurricanes in the southeast, as battles over funding and misinformation fuel the headlines.

Over 10,000 federal personnel are currently deployed in affected areas. That includes 4,200 personnel from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on the ground in Florida, which was hit by Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, as well as North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia, which were hit by Hurricane Helene.

On Saturday, October 12, FEMA received over 250,000 applications, making it the busiest day in FEMA history for registrations inclusive of all storms.

FEMA also approved $507 million in assistance to victims of the two storms and over $351 million for debris removal.

Political Tension Simmers

Despite this, there’s been a political tension simmering between residents and FEMA, as the issue has been thrust into the presidential campaign.

In Rutherford County, North Carolina FEMA is resuming normal operations after crews were temporarily moved to fixed locations instead of going door-to-door, after violent threats against FEMA workers. One suspect was arrested for the threats. FEMA resumed operations after determining that the threats were from the alleged suspect and not from an armed militia group.  

FEMA is also battling a spread of misinformation online including false claims that it was going to bulldoze Chimney Rock, North Carolina and that FEMA was only giving victims $750 in aid.

The rise in conspiracy theories prompted FEMA to create a webpage to set the record straight and discredit misinformation.

Congressional Funding

As for funding to help with disaster aid, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has so far refused to call back Congress to authorize more money, despite bipartisan calls to do so.  

The Speaker said affected states need to fully assess the damage and calculate their needs first, even as he added that Congress will do what’s necessary to cover the needs of the people.

“As soon as that is done, Congress will meet and in a bipartisan fashion, we will address those needs, will provide the additional resources, but it would be premature to call everyone back now,” said Speaker Johnson on CBS’s Face the Nation, who highlighted that FEMA was recently appropriated $20 billion in additional funding as part of the recent government stopgap spending bill.

That news is not sitting well with members from both sides of the aisle. More than 60 House Democrats wrote to the speaker urging him to reconvene Congress this month. So did Republican and Democratic Senators representing the states hit by the storms.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said that FEMA has enough resources to help people from Helene and Milton, but said extra funding is a necessity.

“We need Congress to act swiftly to fund FEMA and specifically its Disaster Relief Fund, because hurricane season is not over,” said Secretary Mayorkas. “We don’t know what’s coming tomorrow. Whether it’s another hurricane, a tornado, a fire, an earthquake.”