(The Center Square) – North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein on Tuesday took a swipe at the Trump administration for moving too slowly on releasing federal funds for Hurricane Helene recovery efforts.
“We want to get as many of these dollars out as quickly as we can,” Stein told other state leaders Tuesday at the monthly Council of State meeting. “We desperately need the federal government to respond commensurate to the way it has responded to other major natural disasters in recent history in the United States. We’ve not gotten that yet.”
Although Congress appropriated disaster relief money late last year, some federal departments haven’t allocated those funds to the states, Stein added.
“We want to get these funds because when you get the funds, you can start spending the funds,” Stein said. “That’s exactly what we want to do is to help people get back on their feet. As quickly as possible.”
The Center Square was unsuccessful prior to publication of obtaining a response from the White House.
The state began its 27th week of recovery this past weekend. Estimates by Stein’s administration on damage in the state is up to or exceeding $60 billion.
Stein had praise however, for the North Carolina Legislature acting quickly this year to provide hurricane relief funds.
“I was really pleased that the first bill that came to my desk was the Hurricane Helene Relief Bill – $524 million,” Stein said. “Obviously this is just a drop in the bucket of the needs, but it’s enough for us to get started on a number of very important programs including the housing repair and reconstruction program.”
The governor said the goal is to have “hammers and nails” this summer.
“We’re going to work our tails off to make sure that happens,” Stein said. “We need people to go out there and do the work.”
The governor described a recent visit to Fairview.
“That community was absolutely the epicenter of the pain and suffering,” Stein said. “Of the 106 lives lost, 13 were in that community, 11 from one family.”
Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler thanked all the volunteers who have helped the state clean up after the devastating storm.
“This job is way too big for government and too expensive,” Troxler said. “But the response from the people, the nonprofits and faith-based organizations has been amazing. We’ve got to pick the pace up. Government can’t do it but the people can. If we stay at it, we will get this done.”
