(The Center Square) – False claims by a Biden administration official on the way to North Carolina sparked one controversy.
Plenty more are rumbling from the hills and hollows of the Blue Ridge and Appalachians. Members of Congress from the region are trying to learn facts in addition to sharing knowledge, their plight as steep as Mount Mitchell in the cacophony of claims.
Alejandro Mayorkas, embattled secretary of Homeland Security, told White House press corps on a plane to North Carolina last week “FEMA does not have the funds to make it through the season and what – what is imminent.”
His comment from the transcript was paired with an April release from FEMA on $640 million for migrants and ignited across the political spectrum less than five weeks before a presidential Election Day.
The context was lost, however. Hurricane recovery comes from a Disaster Relief Fund – a different pot of money for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. And lost on Mayorkas was the reality of congressional action a full week earlier.
Asked Thursday on Fox News Radio if Congress should reconvene to appropriate more money, Foxx said, “Actually, no, that’s not necessary because we passed the continuing resolution and we fully funded the government as of Oct. 1st. The speaker has pointed this out before. When they say they don’t have money, their budgets are complete.
“They have all the money they need. We funded the federal government in September before we left. And so, there is no need for Congress to go back and give supplemental funding.”
She said Congress would be back to do supplementals on issues.
“But the agencies need to stop saying they don’t have the money because they have their full budgets,” Foxx said.
And accusations without merit need to cease, too, she said. Foxx was asked specifically about FEMA not “even around or visible.” And “Elon Musk saying that his folks were being blocked from delivering Starlinks by the FAA,” host Jessica Rosenthal asked.
“I have heard the same kind of reports,” Foxx said, “and what I’ve asked people for is give me a name and then a location. Where did this happen specifically? And then people say, well, I heard it from somebody else who heard it from somebody else.
“Well, until we can get a specific name and a specific location of a person who has taken some action, we can’t really track that down.”
U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., represents the 11th district, south of Foxx, but still in the mountains. He’s put out daily updates with vital recovery information, inclusive of infrastructure woes and successes, and mainly routes to assistance for his constituents. He added another release on Tuesday, debunking myths.
“We have seen a level of support that is unmatched by most any other disaster nationwide; but amidst all of the support, we have also seen an uptick in untrustworthy sources trying to spark chaos by sharing hoaxes, conspiracy theories, and hearsay about hurricane response efforts across our mountains,” Edwards wrote.
Rutherford County Emergency Management is another that, on Saturday, broke from updates on assistance avenues to issue a release in hopes of stopping a story that the town of Chimney Rock would be taken by the federal government and bulldozed.
It also refuted claims that the federal government had paid “only” $750 to survivors and that the Federal Aviation Authority had restricted airspace, thwarting humanitarian aid from arriving.
Foxx, Edwards and many others have affirmed needs are great. And they won’t stop anytime soon.
“We need a lot of things,” Foxx said. “We need our military who can come in and help build temporary bridges and temporary roads so we can get to people. The volunteers can only do so much in that regard.
“So we need the military and the National Guard to be able to do that. The Highway Department, I understand, and I see the trucks have hired as many local contractors as they can to help clear the roads so that people can get through. Even our main roads are stopped in some cases because there’s washouts on major roads and they have to stop while they’re working on the road trying to stabilize it.”
She is hopeful bureaucratic red tape is kept at bay.
“We often have problems with the federal government, in particular, the state government, sometime,” she said. “We need people not to hold over their heads these unnecessary rules and regulations. Obviously, we don’t want slipshod work done, but too often, you run into issues where you’ve got to get permits on top of permits, when things could be done quickly.”
San Francisco’s earthquake in October 1989 came to mind.
“They estimated that it would take 15 years to rebuild the roads,” Foxx said. “They put aside every rule and regulation and rebuilt the roads in like a year and a half. That’s the kind of thing that we need.”