'We've got to react differently to storms.' NC's Tillis, Cooper seek Helene relief money

WASHINGTON — Sen. Thom Tillis told his colleagues Wednesday morning that he didn’t think he could get through his prepared testimony on Hurricane Helene “without shedding a tear.”

Instead he submitted his statements for the record, and spoke from the heart about why Congress needs to immediately pass additional disaster relief funding after both hurricanes Helene and Milton caused widespread devastation across the southeast, including his state of North Carolina.

His statements came less than 48 hours after the White House requested $100 billion from Congress for disaster relief funding that included $40 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency and $2.5 billion for the Small Business Administration.

“I fully support the (White House Office of Management and Budget)’s request for $100 billion, but that’s only the beginning,” Tillis told the committee. “We’ve got to react differently to storms. This may be the first, but it won’t be the last, like we’ve seen in North Carolina, and we owe it to the American people to be ready to do better.”

While Republican Tillis was testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper announced he was on his way to Washington to meet with President Joe Biden, Tillis, Sen. Ted Budd, Rep. Chuck Edwards and other federal officials to ask for $25.57 billion in aid.

“Hurricane Helene was the deadliest and most damaging storm our state has ever faced, and Western North Carolina needs our help to rebuild,” Cooper said in a news release. “There is a long, complex and expensive recovery ahead that will be difficult to accomplish without significant and immediate funding from federal and state governments.”

Helene’s impact

Tillis spoke in his testimony about the widespread devastation seen throughout Western North Carolina after Hurricane Helene ravaged the region beginning Sept. 26.

He ticked off the numbers:

—102 deaths

—151 homes destroyed

—500,000 businesses affected

—5,000 miles of roads damaged

—1,300 public bridges and culverts damaged

—163 water and sewer systems damaged

—20,000 farms damaged

He reminded his Senate colleagues that this destruction was 250 miles inland and said he doesn’t believe the people impacted “need tears, they need action.”

“And we not only need action in the way that we normally respond to storms, we need action in a very different way,” Tillis said.

Tillis said Hurricane Helene didn’t affect a normal, coastal town that knows how to recover quickly.

“We have several river basins that flooded entire towns,” Tillis said. “Asheville just got drinkable water two days ago. The storm hit 54 days ago, and there are some communities that won’t have it. I’ve got a community near the Virginia line that may be without power until March.”

In Cooper’s news release, the governor said 554 customers remain without power. That’s down from the 1 million without power when the storm first hit.

Tillis’ funding frustrations

Tillis also expressed frustration that in Florida, local officials are being told that to receive federal reimbursements they need to be able to distinguish what was damaged by Helene and Milton and what was damaged by Hurricane Debby.

“Is that really what we’re going to tell the states and local governments?” Tillis asked. “That’s how we do disaster recovery?”

Tillis added his annoyance that disaster relief needs must be declared within six months of the storm, knowing that some of the communities won’t be able to be accessed in that time frame.

He then suggested his colleagues use what they learned during the COVID-19 pandemic and apply it to other disasters. That includes tapping into the Paycheck Protection Program and employee tax credits and seeing if those can be applied to other situations.

“We can either learn from it and start talking about creative ways now, or we can regret it later, when some of my western cities are going to dry up,” Tillis said.

After Tillis spoke, the appropriations committee took testimony and held a question-and-answer session with several federal officials including FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Small Business Administration Administrator Isabel Guzman, Department of Agriculture Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres Small, and Department of Housing and Urban Development Deputy Secretary Adrianne Todman.

The topics ranged from the Maui wildfires to the collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge and other disasters around the country.

And the department officials testified about why they need more funding, and may not able to meet constituent needs without it, now or if more disasters occur.

“We are seeing the reality of climate change in real time,” Buttigieg testified. “Weather events that were previously deemed once in a century are coming along every few years. It is not a fluke, it is not a coincidence, and most importantly, it is not going to go away. We need adequate and sustained funding to make sure our communities have what they need to rebuild roads and bridges to make them more resilient in the face of extreme weather and other disasters, and to help people return to normal life as quickly as possible.”

Cooper’s funding request

Cooper’s requests for federal funding touched each department that sat before the appropriations committee Wednesday morning making specific earmark requests to help North Carolina recover from Helene.

From the Department of Transportation and FEMA, he requested $7.41 billion to rebuild and repair interstates, highways, roads, bridges, railroad tracks and airports.

He requested $6 billion from the Department of Housing and Urban Development for housing recovery, economic revitalization, water quality and infrastructure and rebuilding private roads and bridges.

From FEMA, he requested $1.75 billion for the Community Disaster Loan Program that provides local governments funding for essential community service operations after a disaster.

From the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooper requested $1.67 billion for crop and timber loss relief, watershed protections, conservation, forest restoration, rural water and waste disposal.

And from the Small Business Administration, Cooper asked for $1.23 billion from the Home and Personal Property Disaster Loan program to cover physical damage and economic injury.

Congress left early for an October recess, heeding warnings from forecasters that Hurricane Helene would make landfall in Florida and travel up the East Coast. That left their constituents without representatives in Washington fighting on their behalf, but instead campaigning for reelection back home.

Now that Congress has returned post-election, they have a minimal number of days to fund the government, pass the National Defense Authorization Act, tackle the Farm Bill, attempt to jam through the rest of Biden’s judicial nominations and any other matters they choose to take up before the end of the 118th session of Congress.

Both chambers are scheduled to adjourn around Dec. 20.

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