Johnson: Additional hurricane aid 'can wait' until Congress is back in session [View all]

Source: The Hill

10/13/24 9:32 AM ET


Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Sunday said passing additional hurricane aid for states impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton “can wait” until Congress is back in session after the election. CBS “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan asked him why he thinks it’s fine to wait until November for Congress to pass more aid for Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton victims.

“Well, it can wait because, remember, the day before Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida and then went up through the states and wound up in Senator Tillis’s state of North Carolina, Congress appropriated 20 billion additional dollars to FEMA so that they would have the necessary resources to address immediate needs,” Johnson said.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) was part of a bipartisan group of senators to sign a letter urging Senate leaders to think about bringing lawmakers back into session this month to enact disaster legislation before the end of the year.

House lawmakers have also urged Johnson to bring the chamber back into session. A group of Democrats sent a letter last week asking him to do so, and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) posted on the social media platform X, “If Congress goes into a special session we can get it passed immediately. This needs to happen. @SpeakerJohnson call us back.”

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4930814-mike-johnson-hurricane-aid/