Vice President JD Vance slammed the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Monday for not doling out relief funds for months to Hurricane Helene victims in Virginia, North Carolina and other states, noting that Congress had already authorized billions of dollars for that purpose.
Vance, 40, accused FEMA of “holding up some of the aid here” during a visit to the town of Damascus, Va., near the Tennessee border, alongside the commonwealth’s Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin.
The VP, making his second visit to the area since Helene ripped through the area in late September, claimed that at least $4 billion had already been earmarked for hurricane response — but only $47 million had been distributed so far — despite area residents lacking vital flood insurance.
“The thing that I heard most when I was in western North Carolina before the inauguration,” Vance said, “is that there are people who wanted to put trailers or other temporary housing in particular areas of western North Carolina, but they couldn’t because FEMA had designated these particular areas to be ineligible for the type of assistance that would allow people to put that temporary housing in the first place.”
“That’s another example of the sort of thing that’s broken about the federal response,” added Vance, just days after President Trump signed an executive order to review the agency’s performance.
Homeowners in Virginia who lost their properties in the storm have, on average, been offered roughly $42,000 to rebuild, though the average cost of the damages for each structure amounts to $130,000, the vice president noted.
“That’s a massive, you know, 80-$90,000 shortfall that we need to make sure that other parts of the federal government are fixing,” he added.
Last month, Youngkin proposed a budget amendment setting aside $127 million for a state disaster assistance fund after requesting $4.4 billion from the federal government for hurricane victims in his state.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, has estimated the damage from Helene in his state alone will amount to $53 billion.
Trump, while touring wind- and flood-battered regions of western North Carolina Friday, gave victims his presidential podium which they used to call out insurance companies for not sufficiently covering damages.
A grandfather who spoke told reporters in Swannanoa, NC, that his family home sank in the flooding and he was “staying in a camper” donated by a nonprofit group.
“If you all notice, I’m a big guy, I don’t sleep in campers very well,” he said. “It’s tough. I think we’re at a point in Asheville where people just forgot about Asheville and it’s sad, everything has stopped.”
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) has since suggested holding hearings with some insurance firms accused of stiffing hurricane victims.
Vance toured Damascus with Youngkin in October prior to his election as vice president, and met Friday with local business owners, emergency responders, state lawmakers and the town’s mayor.
“As you all know, I love the Appalachian region of our country, especially this particular part. It’s beautiful,” the Middletown, Ohio, native said. “The people are kind and friendly, and they’ve got a great community here, but obviously got slammed very hard by the hurricane.”
“While the people have done an incredible job of rebuilding this community, they have not had a federal government that’s really been on their side,” he added. “I’ve heard so many stories, just [in] the last hour that I’ve been on the ground, of federal agencies that have not developed and deployed the resources necessary, of federal bureaucrats that have been a barrier, as opposed to a facilitator, of some of the federal resources.”
“I think the country has decided collectively that we want to help the regions of our country that were devastated by this flood,” he said. “So why are the bureaucrats not doing the American people’s will?”
Reps for FEMA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
