[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 172 (Wednesday, November 20, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6645-S6647]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                        Disaster Relief Funding

  Mr. WARNOCK. Madam President, I rise today calling on the U.S. Senate 

to immediately--immediately--approve the supplemental disaster 
assistance request sent to us by the President earlier this week so we 
can get Georgians and Americans all across our country the support they 
so desperately need following two recent storms: Hurricanes Helene and 
Milton.
  Sadly, these storms are becoming more frequent and becoming more 
destructive. And we will see again and again the need of the Senate to 
respond with the urgency that this demands.
  I was pushing for additional disaster assistance for Georgians 
reeling from past storms before Hurricane Helene landed in our State; 
namely, following Hurricane Idalia last year and Debby in August of 
this year.
  My office was on the frontlines of the Federal response to Hurricane 
Helene in Georgia, and I was proud to work with a bipartisan group with 
my colleagues, including Senator Tillis and Senator Budd of North 
Carolina, to kick-start this disaster funding process.
  I want to thank the President for listening to the people of our 
State in expediting this request. I want to thank the Senate 
Appropriations Committee Chair Patty Murray for acting on this priority 
today. It is something she and I have talked about over the last 
several weeks.
  Since these storms tore through Georgia and much of the Southeast, we 
have seen light in darkness as communities come together to help one 
another, neighbors supporting neighbors.
  I was down in Augusta a few weeks ago, and it was tough to see that 
devastation. But part of that light piercing the darkness could be seen 
in the eyes and in the effort of Robert Lanier of Lanier's Meat Market. 
I was driving. We were going down the street. I had my staff do a U-
turn. And there was Robert Lanier, local business owner--Lanier's Meat 
Market--literally providing free food and water to his neighbors. The 
very food that he sells every day to take care of his family, he was 
giving it away to his neighbors--a light shining in the darkness.
  I saw this in Homerville, Soperton, and Gibson, where my office 
hosted community resource clinics to connect Georgians to Federal 
officials and resources, helping some 200 Georgians in the process.
  In Quitman and in Valdosta, my team and I hit the road to deliver 
food, healthcare supplies, and water to our neighbors in need.
  I spent time with smalltown mayors all across our State that were 
desperately in need of a response.
  And to date, FEMA has provided over $229 million in individual and 
household assistance to Georgians in need and continues to operate 
numerous disaster recovery and other assistance centers across the 
State.
  I am proud of the great work being done, and I applaud the public 
servants and the community leaders who make it all possible. But in my 
travels and in my conversations with these smalltown mayors, with 
Georgians, for folks especially in our rural areas, it is clear that 
more needs to be done, and that help cannot come soon enough.
  In Ray City, I joined President Biden to survey a damaged pecan 
grove. An estimated one-third of the State's pecan crop was destroyed 
as well as cotton. Over 100 poultry houses were damaged or destroyed, 
and 8 million acres of timber in America's No. 1 forestry State were 
impacted. All told, we are talking about more than $6 billion in total 
damages to Georgia's agriculture sector.
  Too many of our farmers have taken too many hits with these storms 
over the years, which is why I pushed the President to send to Congress 
a request for additional funding immediately so we can give a lifeline 
to our hurting agriculture industry.
  At its peak, Helene left more than 1 million Georgians without power, 
300 boil water advisories across the State, over 200,000 homes with 
some level of damage, and countless communities facing a long road to 
recovery.

  Most tragically, 228 individuals perished in Helene's devastation; 34 
of them were Georgians, 6 of them were children. And so as we pray with 
our lips for those we lost, we must pray with our legs to help those 
still reeling and recovering from this devastation.
  While Congress was out of session last month, because I understood 
the urgency, I called on the Senate to come back to Washington to pass 
additional disaster assistance funding. Weeks have passed since then, 
but the urgency remains.
  While it may not be in the headlines, Georgians who were at the 
center of this devastation are living this every single day.
  While I am here to remind my colleagues of the moral urgency to act, 
I know families and farmers back home still recovering. They are the 
ones who understand the dire circumstances, clearly.
  There is one family in Augusta, GA, a married couple with two young 
elementary school-aged kids, who, following Helene--listen--are still 
residing in a house deemed 95 percent damaged. It is practically 
unlivable, their home. But they are still waiting on Federal support to 
move to either a temporary or a long-term housing solution.
  Imagine that, waking up every day in a home that is 95 percent 
damaged. And as they navigate the stress and the trauma of this 
turmoil, the father continues showing up to work. He goes to work every 
day in order to provide for his family and then returns to their 
damaged home, waiting on us to show up to work and get the job done.
  If we expect hard-working Georgians to do their job in the midst of a 
disaster, they should expect us to do ours. It is reasonable service. 
It is the least we can do.
  The disaster assistance proposal before us would deliver a lifesaver 
for so many families, providing over $20 billion to help farmers 
address crop and orchard losses; more than $600 million to help them 
rehabilitate damaged land; $375 million to support rural communities 
with housing, power, water, healthcare, and more; and $40 billion for 
FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund--the primary source of Federal assistance 
for Georgians impacted by Hurricane Helene.
  There is also critical funding to fix our damaged roads and highways, 
support our small business harmed by the storms, and invest in public 
water and sewer system upgrades.
  The only question is, What are we waiting for? There is no time for 
games, no time for delay, no time for partisanship, or politics. We 
must center the human beings, members of our families who are impacted 
by our policy, and the time to act is now.
  We must approve this additional funding with bipartisan and bicameral 
support. And I will continue to do all I can until we get this done, 
and every dollar we allocate gets to the taxpayers. After all, this is 
the taxpayers'

[[Page S6646]]

money and hard-working families trying to pick up the pieces of their 
lives. This is the work we must do, and it cannot happen soon enough.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina.
  Mr. BUDD. Madam President, I rise today to talk about the road ahead 
for Western North Carolina after the devastation of Hurricane Helene. 
And I acknowledge and appreciate my colleague from one of the Mountain 
States, Georgia--particularly Northern Georgia--and am reminded that we 
are rebuilding together.
  For us here in North Carolina, Hurricane Helene represented one of 
the worst natural disasters to ever strike my home State--and I have 
seen a lot of natural disasters in North Carolina.
  From Hurricane Helene, at last count, more than 100 people just in 
our State have been killed; hundreds more were injured; and some are 
still missing. Thousands of North Carolinians lost their homes. They 
lost their businesses.
  And for small mountain communities in Western North Carolina, this 
horrific ordeal began Friday morning of September 27. When the storm 
hit an already rain-soaked area, the situation escalated into life and 
death within moments.
  In the small town of what is the now-famous Bat Cave, NC--population 
180--the town's fire chief, Steve Freeman, was at home with his wife. 
In advance of the storm, Steve parked his first car, a 1967 Mustang. He 
put it up on higher ground on a ridge above the family's shed. At 
around 8:45 a.m., he and his wife heard their house shake. He ran to 
the back of the house; he looked out the window, and he found that the 
car had already been swept downhill into the shed. Seconds later, he 
watched their Ford pickup get flipped upside down by the torrential 
flooding. Then he heard more rumbling noises, followed by shaking; and 
outside, he saw a mudslide barreling down towards the rest of the 
holler.
  He ran for cover, but the collapsing shed took his feet out from 
under him and washed him several yards into a backhoe, where his head 
was pinned between the loader and what was left of the shed. His wife, 
who was watching in horror, thought that he was dead. But, in a moment 
he credits to the grace of Almighty God, Steve had just enough room to 
get his head out, and he went back inside to his wife. They escaped the 
area.
  Steve later said:

       I had my near-death experience, and that's when I knew God 
     was here for me.
  What is even more extraordinary is that, after this harrowing 
experience, the chief, Steve, began working for the safety of his 
community. Others might have called it quits, but he went to work. He 
and his firefighters--they mapped out the area, and they started 
digging people out.

  Chief Freeman is one of hundreds of heroic North Carolinians who 
leapt into harm's way to help others. That is the thing about the 
people of Western North Carolina: They are not just tough; they are 
mountain tough.
  I had the pleasure of going to undergrad at Appalachian State in 
Boone years ago, and I have got lifelong friends who still call the 
region home. But if you spend any amount of time up there, you learn 
just how strong these people are in the mountains: These are proud and 
self-sufficient people. They are generous people.
  For instance, take the story of Ethan Fowler of Slick Rock. He lives 
in Henderson County, and he volunteered to help rescue folks who were 
trapped. When he saw the storm debris that needed clearing in his 
neighborhood, he jumped on his own heavy machinery, and he did the job. 
Locals went up to him, and they offered to pay him; they offered him 
compensation for his work.
  And Ethan replied:

       It's just fuel.

  He went on to personally help direct the National Guard and Federal 
officials as they arrived to clean up Gerton, Bat Cave, Lake Lure, and 
Chimney Rock.
  This story and countless others like it are a perfect testament to 
the people of North Carolina. They are some of the most resilient 
people around. They don't look for handouts; they don't complain. The 
truth is they need us right now. Our government must be there to help 
them.
  That is why it is incredibly disturbing to hear reports on the ground 
that they are still struggling to get in touch with representatives 
from FEMA. Now, of course, I don't want to denigrate the hard work of 
many of these hard-working officials who are trying to do the right 
thing, but when you hear the same story of a scattershot response and 
when you hear that same story over and over again, you know that 
something is dreadfully wrong.
  You also know that something is wrong when we hear from a 
whistleblower at FEMA who claims that Federal officials directed a 
colossal event of avoidance against households with flags or yard signs 
supporting President Trump. This sort of weaponization of the 
government against people in their time of need is disgusting, and it 
is wrong, and there is going to be accountability for it.
  As we hold these Agencies accountable, we in Congress have work to 
do, and no time to waste. So I am again calling on this body to quickly 
approve a supplemental bill to help fund the long-term recovery for the 
citizens of North Carolina. Congress should take up this bill without 
any further delay. Those of us from the region, regardless of party, I 
believe, support this.
  Now, I realize that coming from someone like me--a dedicated fiscal 
conservative asking for this--it might sound, to some, out of place, 
but disaster relief is one of the essential functions of this 
government. Times like these are precisely why we shouldn't overspend 
or waste taxpayer dollars in more prosperous times. Like any family or 
small business, we ought to be saving for a rainy day.
  Ladies and gentlemen, that rainy day is today. In Western North 
Carolina, the temperatures are falling fast. Many people in my State 
are in real danger of facing a winter without heat because the storm 
destroyed the area's only kerosene station. We have people living in 
shelters with only the clothes on their backs because the hurricane 
wiped out their homes.
  We have small shops, hotels, and restaurants that rely on tourism to 
operate, and some of those folks will be forced to shutter their 
businesses forever.
  We have large sections of a major U.S. interstate highway that are 
still impassable and small mountain roads that are damaged beyond 
repair.
  We have communities that are mourning the unimaginable loss of 
members of first responders and law enforcement.
  We have some towns that I visited in the last month, like Hot 
Springs, Marshall, Burnsville, and Swannanoa, that are buried by 
flooding and mudslides, and there are towns like Chimney Rock that are 
mostly gone. Every day that I was present in the region, I was stunned 
by the enormity of the damage. It was unlike anything that I had ever 
seen.
  This is not a situation where our government has the luxury of hand-
wringing or deferring action for another few weeks or after another 
long recess. The citizens in my State--they need help and they need it 
now. This is why these men and women pay their taxes. This is their 
right as Americans, and we can't leave them behind. I believe, after 
having many conversations around the State, that that is their greatest 
fear: of being forgotten.

  I will make my promise not to ever forget them, and my promise to the 
people of Western North Carolina is this: I will do everything in my 
power to see that you have the Federal resources you need to recover 
and to rebuild. I stand ready to work with my Senate colleagues and 
President-elect Trump to cut through the delays and provide the people 
of Western North Carolina with the resources they need as quickly as 
possible. We owe it to these fellow Americans to help them and help 
them now.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Hawaii.
  Mr. SCHATZ. Madam President, on Monday, President Biden submitted to 
Congress an emergency supplemental funding request for nearly $100 
billion to help communities across the country recover from disasters.
  Whether it is Lahaina, Maui, or Burlington or Davenport or Asheville, 
every community that has had the misfortune of being struck by a 
disaster deserves help. No one is ever fully prepared for a tornado or 
a flood or a fire,

[[Page S6647]]

but everyone has to go through the long and difficult and painful 
process of rebuilding--rebuilding their lives, rebuilding their homes, 
rebuilding their stores, rebuilding their communities--which is why 
every time a disaster has devastated our fellow Americans, Congress has 
recognized the need for help and stepped up to fulfill our 
responsibility to provide that help. We don't first check to see if it 
is a blue or a red or a purple State or county.
  And, today, disaster survivors in almost 40 States, including my own, 
are counting on us to do exactly that. They have had their lives turned 
upside down, and in the wake of awful death and destruction, they are 
trying to find some semblance of stability and peace in their lives. 
But, to recover quickly and fully, they need our help. It has been more 
than 15 months since Lahaina burned down to the ground--in a matter of 
hours--by ferocious fires. More than 4,000 homes were destroyed, and 
yet, as of today, just one home has been rebuilt--one home. There are 
4,000 homes gone, 12,000 people without a house, 2,200 structures 
incinerated--1 home rebuilt.
  Even before the fires, Lahaina was a working-class town where people 
were mostly renters, and while a disaster of this scale is catastrophic 
for any community, the financial burden inflicted on these survivors is 
especially, especially acute. Everyone is doing the best that they can 
to recover. They are working so hard. They have pulled together so 
much. They have so much courage and compassion and persistence. They 
have plowed through every barrier put in front of them. They have saved 
each other's lives. They are trying to rebuild this beautiful, 
historic, pluralistic, joyful, multicultural town, but they need our 
help.
  This is a core responsibility of the United States Federal 
Government. There are certain things that we should be arguing about; 
there are lots of things that we should be arguing about. Among those 
things is, What does the Federal Government do, exactly? What is the 
Federal Government's role, exactly, in education? in healthcare? in 
transportation?
  One thing we cannot argue with each other about is this: when your 
fellow Americans are in a situation where their counties, their 
churches, their communities, their States are just simply overwhelmed 
and cannot recover without the resources of the Federal Government, 
that the Federal Government steps up and does their job.
  So we are about to wrap this week up before the Thanksgiving break, 
and then we have a tight, little work period to get a hell of a lot 
done. The one thing we cannot leave undone in December--the one thing 
we cannot leave undone in December--is disaster aid not just for the 
people of Maui but for people all across the country. If the Federal 
Government is for anything, it has to be for this.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia.