by Manzanita Miller
As the disastrous impact of Hurricane Helene reverberates through the nation and the southeast braces for the impact of Hurricane Milton, many Americans are calling out the tepid federal response from the Biden-Harris Administration even as billions of taxpayer dollars are ushered to foreign countries or into programs for illegal immigrants.
Hurricane Helene, which devastated sixteen states in the southeast from Florida to North and South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee, has taken the lives of over 220 Americans, and left millions without food, shelter, or power.
On top of human suffering, the damage to both private and commercial property from Hurricane Helene is estimated to exceed 30 billion dollars. And yet, the federal response has been minimal, and Americans are beginning to pick up on the federal government’s nonchalance when it comes to providing immediate aid to citizens impacted by the devastating hurricane season.
A YouGov survey from October 6th shows that while a majority of Americans have a favorable opinion of how state governors have handled the response to hurricane Helene, the same cannot be said for how Americans view the Biden-Harris Administration’s response.
The poll shows Americans approve of the way state governors have attempted to provide relief after Helene by 38 points, 55 percent to 17 percent. However, when it comes to rating the Biden-Harris Administration’s response, Americans largely disapprove.
Americans disapprove of the Biden Administration’s response to Hurricane Helene by six points, 44 percent to 38 percent, and 18 percent aren’t sure. Independents disapprove of Biden’s response by 14 points, 42 percent to 28 percent, and Republicans disapprove by 68 points, 80 percent to 12 percent.
FEMA’s $750-dollar “immediate assistance” payout for Hurricane Helene has been criticized by Former President Trump, who noted the hypocrisy in the federal government’s FEMA response at a rally in Pennsylvania recently. “They’re offering them $750, to people whose homes have been washed away”, Trump said. “And yet we send tens of billions of dollars to foreign countries that most people have never heard of.”
The FEMA payout is also generally accessible through a mobile or web application – something that could cause issues for the hundreds of thousands of Americans across the southeast who are without power. While Democrats claim the FEMA payout is just the first form of assistance the government is offering, there is no dismissing the fact that many Americans need more immediate aid and feel the FEMA “immediate assistance” check is inadequate.
Then there is the fact that while FEMA appears to be scrimping on providing disaster relief, Democrats in Congress set aside a full $650 million dollars of American taxpayer funds this year to house illegal immigrants, and instructed FEMA to administer the program.
While Biden’s Department of Homeland Security, and the White House noted that the programs are separate things funded by Congress, they neglected to admit the bigger picture: these are not ultimately programs funded by Congress, because Congress doesn’t generate income, taxpayers do. These may be two separate programs administered by Congress, but taxpayer dollars that should be routed to citizens in need are being spent by the Biden-Harris Administration to house illegal immigrants while Americans suffer.
Left-wing politicians have shown particular callousness to the devastating impact of Hurricane Helene, and Americans are noticing.
Another survey, released by YouGov October 8th, shows Americans say 40 percent to 35 percent that Trump did a better job of handling natural disasters as president than Biden has, with 18 percent unsure.
Those who say Trump did a better job at handling natural disasters during his term include independents who say so by nine points, 35 percent to 26 percent, and Hispanics, who say so by eight points, 36 percent to 28 percent.
Trump himself faced two large hurricanes in his first term as president – Hurricane Harvey hit Texas in August 2017, and Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in September 2017. Yet looking back, the public says Trump did a better job of handling those two disasters.
While the political left and mainstream media are knee-deep in “fact checking” conservatives, claiming that conservatives are spinning false narratives around the federal response to these hurricanes, the reality is the radical left is willfully ignoring the bigger picture.
The radical left consistently chooses to fund absurd programs and foreign countries with taxpayer dollars over helping American citizens – and that hypocrisy is exactly what conservatives have been pointing out for the past eight years.
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Manzanita Miller is the senior political analyst at Americans for Limited Government Foundation.
Photo “FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency Response” by FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency.
