by Manzanita Miller
As the devastating effects of Hurricane Helene reverberate across the country and the Southeast braces for Hurricane Milton, many Americans are calling on the Biden-Harris administration for a moderate federal response even as billions of taxpayer dollars are directed to other countries or to programs for illegal immigrants.
Hurricane Helene, which devastated sixteen states in the Southeast, from Florida to North and South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee, took the lives of more than 220 Americans and left millions without food, shelter and electricity.
In addition to human suffering, Hurricane Helene caused damage to both private and commercial property is estimated at over $30 billion. Yet the federal response has been minimal, and Americans are beginning to see the federal government’s nonchalance in providing immediate relief to citizens affected by the devastating hurricane season.
AND YouGov survey data from Oct. 6 shows that while most Americans have a positive view of how state governors have handled the response to Hurricane Helene, the same cannot be said about how Americans view the Biden-Harris administration’s response.
The poll shows Americans approve of the way state governors have tried to provide aid to Helene by a 38-point margin, or 55% to 17%. But when it comes to assessing the Biden-Harris administration’s response, Americans largely disagree.
Americans disagree with the Biden administration’s response to Hurricane Helene by six percentage points, 44% to 38%, with 18% unsure. Independents disapprove of Biden’s response by 14 points, 42% to 28%, and Republicans disapprove by 68 points, 80% to 12%.
FEMA’s $750 payment in “immediate relief” for Hurricane Helene was criticized by former President Trump, who noted hypocrisy in the federal government’s FEMA response at a rally in Pennsylvania Lately. “They are offering them $750 to people whose houses were washed away,” Trump said. “And yet we send tens of billions of dollars to other countries that most people have never heard of.”
The FEMA payout is also generally available through a mobile or online app – which could cause problems for the hundreds of thousands of Americans in the Southeast who are without power. While Democrats say the FEMA payment is just the first form of aid the government is offering, there’s no denying the fact that many Americans need more urgent assist and believe FEMA’s “immediate aid” controls are insufficient.
Added to this is the fact that while FEMA appears to be skimping on providing disaster aid, congressional Democrats have allocated a full $650 million in U.S. taxpayer funds this year to accommodate illegal immigrantsand instructed FEMA to administer the program.
While Biden Department of Homeland SecurityAND White House noted that the programs are separate things funded by Congress, they neglected to acknowledge the bigger picture: Ultimately, they are not congressionally funded programs because Congress does not generate the revenue, taxpayers do. These may be two separate programs administered by Congress, but the Biden-Harris administration is spending taxpayer dollars that should be given to citizens in need to house illegal immigrants while Americans suffer.
Left-wing politicians have shown particular callousness towards the devastating impact of Hurricane Helene, and Americans are noticing this.
Another survey, published by YouGov Data from Oct. 8 shows that 40 to 35 percent of Americans say Trump has handled natural disasters better than Biden as president, with 18 percent unsure.
Those who say Trump has handled natural disasters better during his term include independents, who say so by nine points, 35% to 26%, and Latinos, who say so by eight points, 36% to 28%.
Trump himself faced two major hurricanes during his first term as president – Hurricane Harvey hit Texas in August 2017, and Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in September 2017. But looking back, the public says Trump handled it better these two disasters.
While the political left and mainstream media are knee-deep in “fact-checking” conservatives, claiming that conservatives are spinning false narratives about the federal response to these hurricanes, the reality is that the radical left is willfully ignoring the bigger picture.
The radical left consistently chooses to fund absurd programs and foreign countries with taxpayer money rather than assist the American people – and that is exactly the hypocrisy that conservatives have been pointing out for the last eight years.
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Manzanita Miller is a senior policy analyst at the Americans for Limited Government Foundation.
Photo “Federal Emergency Management Agency FEMA Response” by Federal Emergency Management Agency FEMA.
