Biden: Congress ‘may have to’ come back to approve disaster funding

President Joe Biden plans to visit flood-ravaged North Carolina on Wednesday and may ask Congress to return early from its preelection recess to pass supplemental disaster money to address the “broad and devastating impacts” of Hurricane Helene.

Biden announced the travel from the Oval Office Monday afternoon. Earlier in the day, he said he would go once a presidential visit would not be disruptive to the rescue and recovery effort.

Biden, who spent part of the weekend at his Delaware beach house, defended his and Vice President Kamala Harris’ whereabouts during the storm, arguing that he can work from anywhere.

“I was on the phone for at least two hours yesterday and the day before as well. I was commanding. It’s called a telephone,” Biden said, when a reporter asked why he and Harris were not in Washington.

Former President Donald Trump on Sunday criticized Biden and Harris for not being in Washington over the weekend and not immediately traveling to the storm-ravaged region. He accused Biden of “sleeping” at his beach house, suggesting he was not focused on the recovery effort, and he attacked Harris for fundraising and campaigning in California and Nevada.

Trump, in an effort to paint the Biden administration as failing to adequately respond to the historic storm, is expected to visit Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday afternoon to be briefed on the damage and distribute relief supplies.

At the White House Monday, Biden stressed that the federal government would continue to surge resources to impacted areas.

“Homes and businesses have washed away in an instant. I want them to know we’re not leaving until the job is done,” Biden said. “I’m committed to traveling in impacted areas as soon as possible, but I’ve been told that it’d be disruptive if I did it right now. We will not do that at the risk of diverting or delaying any, any of the response assets needed to deal with this crisis. My first responsibility is to get all the help needed to those impacted areas.”

Asked whether he felt that Trump’s visit to the region would be disruptive, Biden said: “I don’t have any idea.”

Biden said he didn't know how much money he may have to request from Congress. His FEMA chief has suggested the financial stockpile is fine — for now.

“We absolutely have enough resources from across the federal family,” administrator Deanne Criswell said over the weekend on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

Thanks to the government funding patch Congress cleared last week, the nation’s disaster relief fund is refilled to roughly $20 billion. Criswell estimated the cash will be enough to keep disaster response and recovery going at full force throughout the country until early January.

If Congress doesn’t clear an emergency disaster aid bill in the coming months, FEMA will likely need to switch in January to conserving cash by halting payments for work like repairing buildings while aid continues to go out for anything considered to be life sustaining or critical, Criswell predicted.

After Helene made landfall Thursday night in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane, the storm tore through the Southeast, dumping rain on the region and causing unprecedented flooding and mudslides. The storm hit western North Carolina and rural parts of Tennessee and Georgia particularly hard, completely washing away some homes and leaving thousands of people still with little access to food, water or power.

Biden said that more than 100 people have died, and a staggering 600 people are still unaccounted for, in part because cell service has been knocked out and made it difficult for people to get in touch with family members.

“Communities are devastated. Loved ones waiting, not sure if their loved ones are okay,” Biden said. “There’s nothing like wondering, ‘Is my husband, wife, son, daughter, mother, father alive?’”

Biden said he spent a couple hours on the phone over the weekend with leaders of impacted regions, including Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper.

Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.