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Harris said this week that she wanted to see the devastation personally. (Photo: Reuters)
Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris is scheduled to head to North Carolina on Saturday as the state recovers from Hurricane Helen, a visit by Republican Donald Trump who has spread false claims about the federal government’s response to the disaster. Arrive the next day.
Harris was in Georgia earlier this week helping distribute meals, touring damage sites and comforting families hit hard by the storm.
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President Joe Biden also visited the affected areas. Biden spent two days visiting the Carolinas, Florida and Georgia to assess the damage and meet with farmers whose crops were destroyed.
Both men have been vocal about the government’s willingness to help, with previous efforts including a months-long effort to provide relief and recovery efforts across the Southeast as states struggle under the weight of massive damage. This includes covering the costs of the activity.
In a letter to Congressional leaders late Friday, Biden said the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster Relief Fund “has the funds needed right now to meet immediate needs, but will not have the funds at the end of the year.” “We will face shortages,” he said. He called on lawmakers to act quickly to restore funding to the Small Business Administration’s disaster loan program.
More than 200 people died. It was the worst storm to hit the continental United States since Katrina in 2005, and scientists warn that such storms will get worse in the face of climate change.
But in this heated election year, even natural disasters have become deeply politicized, as candidates criss-cross disaster-hit areas, sometimes visiting the same venues, to woo voters in battleground states.
President Trump harshly criticized the Biden administration’s response, falsely claiming it was not doing enough to help affected people in Republican areas. He supported lies about climate change in the wake of Helen’s case, calling it one of the biggest frauds in history. ”
During a stop in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on Thursday, President Trump reiterated his dissatisfaction with the federal government’s response, citing in particular the poor treatment of North Carolina.”In fact, the state’s Democratic governor, Roy Cooper, said this week: He said further damage has already occurred in the state. More than 50,000 people have signed up for FEMA assistance, and about $6 billion has been disbursed.
Meanwhile, Biden suggested the Republican House speaker was withholding critical disaster funding.
Meanwhile, Harris’ visit poses yet another political test amid a humanitarian crisis. She is stepping into the role of Biden, who is well known for showing the empathy Americans expect in times of tragedy, in the final stages of his campaign for the White House.
As vice president, she had not visited the scene of a humanitarian crisis until this week, a mission given to Biden, who has frequently been called upon to survey damage and visit victims of tornadoes, wildfires, tropical storms and more. .
Harris said this week he wanted to see the extraordinary devastation personally. She expressed admiration for the way people came together. People are helping others in red.
This shows that the majority of us have much more in common than what separates us, she said. This is an echo of a line she often uses during her campaign.
We’ve been here for a long time, she said.
(Only the headline and photo in this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff. The rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First publication date: October 5, 2024 | 11:13 AM IST
