Biden Asks Congress for Nearly $100 Billion in Disaster Aid

Politics|Biden Asks Congress for Nearly $100 Billion in Disaster Aid

President Biden urged Congress on Monday to provide nearly $100 billion in “urgently needed” aid for communities ravaged by hurricanes and other disasters in recent months, saying funding for some critical programs has either run out or is nearly exhausted.

In a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, Mr. Biden cited the devastation he saw firsthand as he toured states like Florida, South Carolina and Georgia after Hurricanes Helene and Milton tore through southeastern states this fall, causing billions of dollars in damage and claiming hundreds of lives. “Additional resources are critical to continue to support these communities,” he said.

“From rebuilding homes and reopening critical infrastructure, such as schools and roads, to supporting the nation’s farmers and ranchers and ensuring access to health care services, impacted communities await your response,” Mr. Biden wrote. “There can be no delay.”

Mr. Biden’s letter aims to ratchet up pressure to act on a Congress that has been reluctant to take up his other recent requests for disaster aid. This time may be different: The president and congressional leaders are now working to cement their last priorities in the months before a sweeping turnover in leadership in Washington, and key members of Congress expressed openness to approving funds.

The aid’s passage may be eased by the fact that much of it would go to districts and states represented by Republicans. Representative Tom Cole, Republican of Oklahoma and the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, toured a swath of Asheville, N.C., over the weekend that had been ravaged by the hurricane.

“The federal government needs to be here in a situation like that,” Mr. Cole told a local television station, “and we want to make sure that we get everything right.”