President Joe Biden is seeking $98.6 billion in emergency disaster relief funding following a series of hurricanes this fall, most prominently Hurricane Helene that caused severe damage in North Carolina and across the region.
It’s a comprehensive package that extends back to unmet needs from prior disasters, encompassing earlier requests the White House submitted dating back to over a year ago, ranging from wildfires on Maui to tornadoes in the Midwest to human-caused calamities like the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore.
The largest piece, $40 billion, would restore the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s dwindling fund for immediate disaster response needs; the next-largest, $21 billion, would allow the Agriculture Department to compensate farmers and ranchers for crop and livestock losses. The Department of Housing and Urban Development would get $12 billion; Transportation would get $8 billion for highway and bridge repairs, and much more.
