(The Center Square) – Relief efforts for Hurricane Helene in North Carolina were bolstered overnight Friday into Saturday with bicameral passage of a resolution avoiding a government shutdown.
Overall, there’s $110 billion for a number of disasters – Helene, Hurricane Milton, Typhoon Mawar, tornadoes and wildfires – within the American Relief Act 2025, also known as House Resolution 10545.
Republican U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, was the only North Carolinian against the resolution of all 16 casting a vote in the Senate and House of Representatives.
President Joe Biden is expected to sign the legislation Saturday.
Not including FEMA assistance projected to be in the billions of dollars, North Carolina aid is about $9 billion of the package, a release from U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., says. The money will help block development programs; farmers; infrastructure to include roads, highways and bridges; and drinking water infrastructure.
“Western North Carolina will need significant resources to be made whole again,” Tillis said in an overnight release.
Tillis and Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Budd, along with Republican U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards, joined Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper in making a $25.57 billion pitch to the president month.
“At long last, the people of western North Carolina will begin to receive the disaster aid they do desperately need and deserve,” Budd said in a Saturday release. “It is going to take years to fully recover after the devastation of Hurricane Helene. I will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with the resilient citizens of the western mountains as they undertake the difficult job of rebuilding. They will never be forgotten as long as I have anything to say about it.”
Edwards’ 11th Congressional District was among the hardest hit when Helene dissipated and in some places dumped more than 30 inches of rain. Arguably the state’s worst natural disaster, Helene killed 103 in North Carolina, 232 across seven states, and caused an estimated $53 billion in damage in the state.
He said as a member of the House Committee on Appropriations, it was his priority to help draft a framework of disaster funding to western North Carolinians.
“The citizens of western North Carolina pulled together in such monumental ways to help one another, and now these additional funds will help folks across North Carolina’s 11th District rebuild communities and put our lives back together.”
The state’s agriculture industry, valued at $111.1 billion annually and grown by $18 billion since 2022 and the end of the COVID-19 era, is getting a significant portion of the aid. A release from the House Committee on Appropriations says the national disbursements include $31 billion for disaster and economic assistance to agriculture producers.
Another $29 billion will go to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for response, recovery and mitigation related to presidentially declared major disasters. The release specifically names inclusion of Hurricanes Milton and Helene.
The remaining roughly third-plus of the $110 billion is spread through the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Program ($12 billion); Federal Highway Administration Emergency Relief Program ($8.1 billion); repair of national forest roads and facilities ($6 billion); drinking water and wastewater systems infrastructure ($3.1 billion); national parks roads and historic structure rehabilitation impacted by natural disasters ($2.3 billion); Small Business Administration disaster loan program ($2.2 billion); and rehabilitation and repairs, and future disaster studies and projects ($1.5 billion).
Finally, there’s $362.5 million supporting disaster recovery for rural community water and waste, housing and facilities; $312.7 million for U.S. Coast Guard disaster response and recovery efforts; and $14 million for repair of hurricane-damaged law enforcement training facilities and support of public safety.
The resolution’s third attempt for passage was successful following criticism by Trump of the first pitch, and his guided attempt on the second one roundly rejected. Biden, the incumbent president strategically shuttled away from the national spotlight since his debate with Trump in June, was never heard from in the negotiations.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said afterward late Friday night he was in contact with Trump throughout the process including the third attempt, which notably does not include the debt ceiling increase the president-elect desired.
