By Julianna Frieman
Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas challenged NBC host Kristen Welker over the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) lackluster response to Hurricane Helene on “Meet the Press.”
FEMA allocated over $1 billion for a migrant assistance program over the past two fiscal years, and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Wednesday that the agency does not have enough funds to make it through the storm season, after saying earlier in the year that FEMA was “tremendously prepared” for hurricanes. Welker characterized FEMA’s spending on migrants as “misinformation,” prompting Cotton to counter her claim.
“My broader question to you I think is about this misinformation. Do you think this is a time to put falsehoods aside like the idea that FEMA funds are being redirected to migrants, which is just not true?” Welker asked.
“Well, it is true that FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security have been spending billions of dollars on migrants. I understand some people say they’re separate funds, but we just passed a short-term spending bill. It’s very common for the administration to come and ask for permission to move money between funds, especially to prepare for emergencies.” (RELATED: ‘Florida Man Doing Florida Things’: Video Shows Hurricane Victim Kayak In His Flooded Living Room)
Welker: “Do you think this is a time to falsehoods aside like FEMA funds being redirected to migrant?”
Sen. @TomCottonAR: “It is true that FEMA and DHS have been spending billions of dollars on migrants… This administration seems to have no problem finding money when they want… pic.twitter.com/SGgxZ7BcHZ
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 6, 2024
Cotton said that the Biden-Harris administration “has no problem finding money when they want to spend it on their priorities.”
“When they need hundreds of billions of dollars to pay off student loans for graduate students and gender studies programs, they somehow find it,” the GOP senator told Welker. “When it’s trying to get helicopters to deliver food and water and cellular service and life-saving medicine into these mountain valleys, they somehow can’t seem to find the money.”
Hurricane Helene, a Category 4 storm, devasted southern states on the East Coast including areas in western North Carolina like Asheville and Boone, South Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia. More than 200 deaths were recorded, according to the Associated Press, and many people are still stranded after flash flooding damaged their homes and possessions.