Last week Gov. Brian Kemp was visibly upset with the Harris-Biden administration for being too slow regarding aiding rural communities after Hurricane Helene unleashed incredible devastation that left over two dozen dead.
Kemp – captured on video— was upset having to lobby for additional Georgia counties to make President Joe Biden’s disaster declaration list. “When the first emergency declarations came down, there was only 11 counties in that. A lot of people were outraged, including me, because there was such devastation in up to 90 counties,” Kemp told WRDW-TV in Augusta.
Presidential disaster declarations allow counties named to apply for and receive funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). But only counties named by Biden in the declarations are eligible to receive aid – meaning nearly 80 Georgia ones were left in the lurch by the president’s initial action, which came shortly after the storm struck.
“We spoke to the president’s chief of staff, the FEMA administrator and said, look, you’re sending the signal that you’re not paying attention to some of these rural communities,” the governor said. And immediately after he made the call, Kemp said White House officials relented and added an 30 more counties to the declaration.
But that still wasn’t enough. “I absolutely think we will have a lot more counties. We’re at 41 right now and I could see it going anywhere from 70 to 90,” Kemp warned late Friday.
Biden’s response to the disaster has been heavily scrutinized, especially after his Department of Homeland Security secretary admitted that FEMA aid is drying up– despite allocating millions for illegal immigrants with their housing, food and transportation. DHS allocated $780 million for the migrant crisis last year initially through the FEMA Emergency Food and Shelter Program, which funds relief not associated with natural disasters, and then through the new FEMA Shelter and Services Program, which was authorized in late 2022 by Congress to respond to the migrant crisis.
The $640.9 million spent this year comes solely from FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program.
A paltry $4 million has been paid directly to families and individuals in the week since Hurricane Helene ravaged the Southeast, killing at least 202 people and causing severe flooding damage from Florida to North Carolina, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Thursday.
