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Speaker Johnson, Reps. Cammack & Dunn visit North Florida communities devastated by Hurricane Helene

Rep. Cammack and Speaker Johnson talk with members of the Florida National Guard before the helicopter tour of damaged areas.

Press release from Congresswoman Kat Cammack

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — This afternoon, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA-04) joined Congresswoman Kat Cammack (R-FL-03) and Congressman Neal Dunn (R-FL-02) for a visit to the areas in North Central Florida devastated by Hurricane Helene.

The group took an aerial tour of the damage, viewing Cedar Key, Suwannee, Horseshoe Beach, and Steinhatchee from above. Hurricane Helene made landfall last Thursday evening, dumping heavy rain that generated 18 feet of storm surge along the coastal areas in Florida’s Big Bend region. 

The congressional leaders stopped in Steinhatchee to view the damage on the ground and to visit with local leaders who have been working around the clock to aid in initial cleanup efforts. The lawmakers also spoke with members of local, state, and national media, sharing important updates about recovery efforts and what more Congress can and should do to help the communities devastated by the storm.

“I’m grateful to Speaker Johnson for visiting some of Florida’s hardest-hit communities today. Seeing the damage and destruction from Hurricane Helene firsthand and hearing directly from the folks who continue to struggle with relief from the federal government was critical, especially because these same communities also endured Hurricane Idalia and Debby in the last 13 months. Some of those very same folks have yet to receive the disaster assistance they applied for,” said Rep. Cammack. “We’re going to continue our efforts to get our region back up and running, and I’m grateful for the Speaker’s commitment to this work.” 

Speaker Johnson, Rep. Cammack, and Rep. Dunn speak to members of the local, state, and national media about their visit.

Speaker Mike Johnson told members of local, state, and national press during a stop in Steinhatchee: “I think this has been an extraordinary effort by Florida, the state and local officials. It’s just really inspiring to see how well it’s been covered and how much the community is rolling up its sleeves and working together. Here in this community, it would inspire the entire country to see how they’re really banded together. They’re undeterred. This is a very resilient community of people. That’s the best of America. We have this disaster now that’s around the country. We have people in North Carolina still stranded in their homes in the mountains and people in Georgia and a number of other states that have been terribly affected by this storm. So, Congress is on the ground, the representatives who represent all those districts are there with their constituents, with their people trying to help, and we will do what’s necessary to make sure that Americans are taken care of.”

Rep. Cammack tours damage in Florida’s Third Congressional District the day after Hurricane Helene made landfall.

“North Florida is tough, and the resilience of our communities in the wake of Hurricane Helene continues to inspire. Local leaders, residents, and federal officials have come together with strength and determination, showing the grit and dedication needed to rebuild,” Congressman Neal Dunn said. “I am honored to host Speaker Johnson as we work together, and I am committed to advocating for aid and providing the support our communities need through every step of the recovery process.”

Initial damage estimates from the storm could total over $160B. 

For assistance with recovery resources from Hurricane Helene, visit cammack.house.gov or call (352) 505-0838. 

  • If they care so much how about they do something about the insurance companies in Florida.

      • Do their jobs and pass a budget which includes funding for disaster relief. They failed to do that in their last continuing resolution.

        “On August 7, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced that the Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) had become depleted, forcing the agency to transition to Immediate Needs Funding (INF) and halting more than $6.1 billion in recovery activities across the country. The DRF is a critical source of funding for disaster response and recovery efforts. Recent funding gaps have placed undue strain on state and local governments, hindering long-term recovery projects.

        NACo requests additional funding

        On September 11, the National Association of Counties (NACo) submitted a letter to Congress requesting immediate action to address shortfalls in the Disaster Relief Fund (DRF). Specifically, NACo advocates for:

        Replenishing the DRF: NACo urges Congress to address the current shortfall by replenishing the Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) through the Continuing Resolution (CR) under negotiation.
        Providing Additional Funding: Congress is requested to include an additional $10 billion in disaster relief to support ongoing recovery efforts and prevent future funding gaps.
        Backfilling INF Projects: The letter calls for Congress to backfill the $6.1 billion in projects halted due to the transition to Immediate Needs Funding (INF) and ensure these funds are available.
        Preventing Future INF Use: NACo asks Congress to include provisions to avoid the need for INF next year, ensuring more stable and predictable funding for disaster recovery.

        https://www.naco.org/news/naco-urges-congress-address-disaster-relief-fund-shortfalls

  • Florida really does a great job responding to disasters. I’m glad Florida is helping other devastated communities in North Carolina, etc. as well.

    Praying for those affected.

    So glad we have Gov. DeSantis, who has prepared so well for hurricane responses. He has set the standard for how to govern with excellence.

    • I lived in Florida all my life until 2020. Third generation Floridian. I know live in western N.C. and let me tell you, us Floridians definitely know how to handle destruction. Up here? Chaos. Not one damn bit of government have their sh@t together. People are stranded with no rescue. As of yesterday, people and non profits started just “doing” instead of waiting on local/state government to make a decision. Wish like hell DeSantis was here instead of the moron we have.

      • No Filter, hurricanes like Helene aren’t part of NC’s normal repertoire, so of course your new home is caught flat footed.

        I lived in Vermont for 4 years, and guess what? They do snow really well.

  • Ask Kat why she and Speaker Johnson won’t add additional funding to FEMA until AFTER the election in November. Don’t you just hate hypocrites?

    • Ask Mayorkis this question. The Feds have not allocated enough funds for FEMA. They shifted FEMA money to help the migrants. See Ashley Moody’s press release on this.

    • Why don’t you ask Kahmahlaj and biden why they allowed over 1 billion to be taken from Fema funds to house ILLEGAL migrants. I await your response

      • Cut the partisan BS on a national emergency. This is another example of Trump trying to divide America based on lies.

        “The Shelter and Services Program (SSP) is a completely separate, appropriated grant program that was authorized and funded by Congress and is not associated in any way with FEMA’s disaster-related authorities or funding streams,” a Homeland Security spokesperson told Newsweek, calling the Republican claims “completely false.”

        The funds allocated to handle asylum seekers also constitute approximately 2 percent of FEMA’s annual budget, which is typically measured in the billions. Its 2023 total gross budget authority was just under $30 billion. For this financial year, which began Oct. 1, the agency requested $33.1 billion, according to Newsweek.

        What’s more, it has been Republicans who have repeatedly voted in Congress to cut FEMA funding—and the Republican-led House currently controls FEMA’s spending and budget. Just last week, the Hill’s “most conservative fiscal hawks” forced congressional leaders to strip a bipartisan continuing resolution to keep the government open of almost all supplemental funding, including disaster funds for FEMA, according to Politico’s E&E News.”

        • PS Note that this political stunt by Kat and Johnson – Congress doesn’t have a budget for disaster relief so they showed up with empty pockets, and they just failed to provide for new disasters in their BS “continuing resolution” budgeting with Republicans voting it down – doesn’t mention FEMA or Biden who has been on top of every disaster in this state since taking office and is the primary bank in our countries disaster relief.

          Our divider in chief, Benito DeSantis, avoided meeting Biden – AGAIN – while pretending Florida had this. This is not what leaders do, this is what political hacks who care about themselves and their party do, using these disasters as props in their small minded selfish campaigns. To hell with this puny Napoleon and his role model Trump.

          Meanwhile bigger leaders like the Governors of SC, Virginia, Georgia, and NC have all praised Biden for his prompt and complete support. Hey, it’s Biden’s job, just like it is theirs, and thankfully not all of America is run by selfish bricks like our Governor and our Representative.

          • As usual Jazzman is wrong again throwing out nonsense which we have to read. Yesterday, the governor Georgia jumped all over the poor response of Fema.Check it out.

          • North Carolina is a train wreck with no emergency planning for a disaster like this. The governor is a deer in headlights with no planning at all.

          • No one has praised Biden because Biden is at the beach. Cmon man

          • BS Learn to read after you learn how to spell.

            “Various Republican governors in the southeastern states hit by Hurricane Helene have praised the Biden administration’s response, sometimes naming Biden in particular.

            Republican South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said at a Tuesday press conference that federal assistance had “been superb,” noting that Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg had both called and told him to let them know whatever the state needed. McMaster added that the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Deanne Criswell, had also called. He said, “So we’re getting assistance, and we’re asking for everything we need.”

            Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said at a Monday press conference, “I’m incredibly appreciative of the rapid response and the cooperation from the federal team at FEMA.” He specifically thanked Biden, among others, in a press release the day prior.

            Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said at a Wednesday press conference that the response to his emergency declaration “was quick from the federal government,” adding there was “a fast turnaround, frankly,” in making the state eligible for some federal reimbursements.

            At a Tuesday press conference, Lee spoke of a “rush” of officials “from the federal to the state to the local, the local emergency management agencies, local county mayors with tears in their eyes out there serving their people. There is a great deal of hope when you see what is behind the effort, the coordinated effort, in this community to begin to rebuild.”

            Praise in North Carolina
            Cooper, the North Carolina governor, has repeatedly praised the federal response. Sitting beside Biden during the president’s visit to North Carolina on Wednesday, Cooper said, “We’re grateful for the quick actions and close communications that we have had with the president and with the FEMA team,” adding moments later, “And Mr. President, we know that we have made a lot of asks of you, and we are grateful for your ear and for your actions.”

            Cooper said in a briefing on Tuesday: “I briefed President Biden and Vice President Harris each on two occasions, and they have committed every resource available to this recovery. I appreciate the president’s quick approval of our major disaster declaration this weekend and his direction that FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell will continue to be here on the ground,” saying that residents were already starting to receive assistance funds.

          • Everything Jazzman said is his interpretation. Western NorthCarolina. No one has seen Kajama or biden. Fema is out of funds. Governor of ga has blasted the administration. Where is the fema money jazzman????

          • Doofus, read the comments of Governors – mostly GOP – above. FEMA is close to being out of funds because the Republican Congress didn’t include it in their continuing resolution budgeting. Matt Gaetz specifically warred against giving it money. The $600 million to immigration is a program begun under Trump and is earmarked for that purpose, not disaster relief, where we are talking many billions. Cripes, grow a brain.

          • When did our governor avoid meeting Biden???? Quit throwing out this nonsense

          • But yet Jazzman supports paying 1,500 per month to Haitian migrants with money coming from FEMA funds. And then Hazz.an says it comes from another government source.

        • Do not believe this garbage that Jazzman dumps out. FEMA spent over 1 billion dollars for ILLEGAL migrant housing leaving no money for disaster relief. Majorkis admitted this.

          • Read above you dummy. By the way, those funds were dedicated for that purpose under Trump.

          • That is a blatant untruth. Trump did not dedicate that money for that purpose.

          • Read and weep – or just apologize Maximum:

            “Donald Trump falsely accuses President Biden of redirecting disaster funds, a budget maneuver Trump himself approved in 2019….

            In 2019, the Trump administration, in the middle of hurricane season, told Congress that it was taking $271 million from DHS programs, including $155 million from the disaster fund, to pay for immigration detention space and temporary hearing locations for asylum seekers who have been forced to wait in Mexico. “The U.S. is facing a security and humanitarian crisis on the Southern border,” the administration said in its notice that it was redirecting the funds….

            The Pinocchio Test
            Trump falsely claims FEMA has run out of disaster money — and then falsely says that’s because money instead was spent on migrants. There is no evidence the Biden administration spent FEMA disaster money on migrants. Rather, that’s what Trump did.

            He earns Four Pinocchios.”

            https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/10/04/no-biden-didnt-take-fema-relief-money-use-migrants-trump-did/

    • Would you throw good money after bad? It’s like a bunch of kindergarteners running with scissors up in DC.

  • Why should my federal tax dollars be going to bail these people out again? What happened to personal responsibility? Who can say it was a “surprise that couldn’t have been predicted” that a hurricane would hit Florida and cause extensive property damage? It’s the most foreseeable thing in that world. They obviously didn’t prepare for it, and now they all have their hands out looking for welfare. Give me a break.

    • “Thursday marked the second time DeSantis has opted out of meeting with Biden in Florida after a hurricane struck his state. Last year, he surprised the White House by announcing he would not take a visit with Biden after Hurricane Idalia hit the Big Bend, saying that surrounding security measures would be too disruptive for the recovery.

      DeSantis was running for the 2024 Republican nomination for president at the time, when Biden had been the presumptive nominee on the Democratic side and the governor was after his job…”

      It is common sense and long standing practice that Floridians want our Governor to kiss ass to get all the funding he can in an emergency, not pick fights with the guys who have the biggest checkbook and who’s job it is to handle disasters. Benito DeSantis is pretending Florida’s got this on it’s own, which is of course complete nonsense. It’s his job to work with others, especially when they have the bucks.

        • “MIAMI — President Joe Biden touched down on Thursday in Florida’s state capital, less than a week after Tallahassee narrowly avoided a direct hit from Hurricane Helene that ravaged nearby coastal counties.

          And Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was 300 miles away….As Biden was deboarding Air Force One in Tallahassee, DeSantis was holding a press conference at hurricane-devastated Anna Maria Island near Bradenton, which is on Florida’s Gulf Coast just outside Tampa.

          Since recovery efforts began, DeSantis has sought to separate Florida’s response from the federal government, saying the state was able to move much faster. And early into his remarks on Thursday, DeSantis brought up the dockworkers strike that’s affecting ports in several states, including Florida, by listing off crucial supplies that would see disruptions — from medical equipment to vehicle parts, lumber and steel.

          “It really is incumbent upon the Biden-Harris administration to do everything in their power to ensure that these goods are where we need to be,” he said.

          Thursday marked the second time DeSantis has opted out of meeting with Biden in Florida after a hurricane struck his state. Last year, he surprised the White House by announcing he would not take a visit with Biden after Hurricane Idalia hit the Big Bend, saying that surrounding security measures would be too disruptive for the recovery…”

          Besides for the fact that the dockworkers strike is over – sorry Benito DeSantis, another prop gone – this brick thinks attacking the hand that feeds is a good idea. Good for him personally but not the citizens of Florida who need the help. FLORIDA DOES NOT HAVE THIS, no matter what that lying punk says.

          • Yeah Biden spent 15 minutes touring Keaton Beach but was confused about the name of the Hurricane.DeSantis has spent the week working on this. In addition, the first national guard troops folks saw in western North Carolina were from Florida sent to help them.so you can knock DeSantis but he is damn sure better than the freak mayor of tallahassee you and other left wingers supported.oh yeah

          • Putting aside the nonsense, thanks for your apology and the correction.

            By the way, Benito DeSantis doesn’t have the money and neither does Florida, so his job is kissing the president’s ass and thanking him. He should be fired for dereliction of duty.

  • Comments dominated from the MAGA base that still believes what Trump says.

    Hey, don’t buy the watch he’s selling like he was on The Home Shopping Network at 3AM – like Mexico paying for the wall, it’s a rip off.

    • And yet Kahlahmah never visited the border in 3.5 years.NEVER!!!! And ,by the way, Biden said last week that indeed she was the border czar.oh yeah

      • No he didn’t say that. Harris was tasked with working with the sources of most of the would be immigrants in Central America, which she did. She was not the “border czar”.

        “Overview
        In May 2021 Vice President Harris called on the private sector to draw on its unique resources and expertise to make commitments to support inclusive economic growth in northern Central America through a “Call to Action.” To build on the momentum generated under the Call to Action, Vice President Harris launched “Central America Forward” in February 2023 in partnership with the Partnership for Central America, a 501(c)(3) organization. Central America Forward supports inclusive economic growth while also emphasizing the importance of good governance, good jobs, reducing violence, and empowering women. Central America Forward reaffirms the broader goals of the U.S. Strategy to Address the Root Causes of Migration, which was launched by the Biden-Harris Administration in July 2021.

        Since its launch, Central America Forward – in partnership with the Partnership for Central America – has mobilized a total of $5 billion in private sector commitments to support inclusive economic growth in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. Over 55 companies and organizations have joined this initiative and made investments in the region. To date, these companies have deployed nearly $1.3 billion on the ground, including $141 million in El Salvador, $509 million in Guatemala, and $545 million in Honduras, in investments. These investments continue to create jobs, connect people to the digital economy, expand access to financing for small businesses, further empower women, provide workers with training and education, and improve local economic livelihoods.

        This public-private partnership is a collaboration between the U.S. government and the 501(c)(3) Partnership for Central America. ”

        https://www.state.gov/progress-on-central-america-forward/

  • So they all voted against disaster relief but came down here. To try to take credit for the relief that is happening and a photo op.

    • Actually Kat was the lead on the 2023 relief bill claiming it was not enough. She voted against the most recent one because it contained to many items not needed in the bill. She is actually leading the new supplemental for aid

    • That’s correct, and not the first time Kat has grandstanded on no accomplishments.

        • Too busy taking names and kicking ass.

          Let’s see…….M-a-x-i-m-u-s

          Where’s my apology, or are you as low character as Trump?

          • Apology for what? The fact that you supported the freak Gillam for governor. Oh yeah. Take care now

          • Both you and Maximus posted BS that I proved was wrong. Don’t change the subject, you low life liar. If you had any decency you’d admit it and we could move on.

            By the way, I have personally admitted being wrong on this board more than once. It’s called character and respect. Apparently you need to look them up.

  • That last photo reminds me of the Republican FEMA Emergency Plan:

    “In case of storm surge, your Congresswoman may be used as a flotation device.”

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