Best thing people can do for disaster relief is to donate to their local churches. Don't donate to the government for disaster relief.
As noted by FEMA -- the government does not take donations for disaster relief. Any entity claiming to be a government agency such as FEMA asking you for donations is nothing more than a scammer. There are many of these scammers operating now online pretending to be government agencies or legitimate charities (Red Cross, etc.) Be careful to validate the legitimacy of the organization you are donating to before providing money, etc. The best organizations to give to is the Red Cross and other large well-known charities who are very much engaged in disaster relief.
Everything is fine and extremely effective. Tell it to the people of NC. If something is a little bit not great, blame Republicans and Trump. The media is in full cover-up mode.
If you've studied the history of FEMA and GOP funding for disaster relief...we have a strange fixation with voting NAY to block disaster relief funds for FEMA. Most of the time it has hurt their constituents in their states that were hit by a natural disaster. One would think we could break this bullshit pattern of not giving FEMA the resources they need to help Americans. We need to realize that Climate Change is real and stop blaming Biden/Harris when the GOP has a history (pattern) of not funding FEMA when the country needs FEMA the most. Hurricane Katrina, 2005 Following one of the deadliest and most destructive hurricanes in U.S. history, Congress quickly passed a $51.8 billion relief package for those affected. Just 11 lawmakers in the House voted against the bill—all of them Republicans. That includes Rep Steve King of Iowa, Ron Paul of Texas and Jeff Flake of Arizona. Looking back years later, King called his decision “the best vote that I cast.” The natural disaster killed more than 1,800 people. Hurricane Ike, 2010 Hurricane Ike was one of the costliest hurricanes to make landfall in the United States, devastating parts of Louisiana, Texas, the Mississippi coastline, and Florida. Republicans ended up killing a bill that would have stopped the loss of about $40 million in federal disaster grants to Ike victims. The Appropriations Committee argued Texas took so long to spend its portion of a 2008 disaster grant, totaling $600 million, that the state probably didn’t need the funds. Joplin tornado, 2011 Like the recent tornado in Oklahoma, the one in Missouri was a catastrophic EF5. It killed more than 150 people and injured more than 1,000. Senate Republicans came under fire after blocking a $7 billion disaster relief fund from coming up for a vote. It failed 53-33. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor repeatedly came under fire for arguing the funds must be paid for with cuts to other programs. He compared the funds to a family who set aside $10,000 to buy, say, a new car. If they were then struck with a sick family member, Cantor said they’d take their reserved funds and apply it to their family member instead. “Families don’t have unlimited money. And really, neither does the federal government,” he said. Congress eventually authorized $400 million from Community Development Block Grant funds, of which $45.2 million went to Joplin. Virginia earthquake, 2011 Cantor again insisted the emergency relief funding must be offset with cuts, even though the 5.8-magnitude earthquake hit his Virginia district. FEMA, which initially turned down the state’s request for funds, eventually reversed course. Hurricane Irene, flooding in Mississippi, tornados in Midwest, 2011 GOP lawmakers blocked an effort by Senate Dems to pass a $7 billion aid package for victims of the recent disasters with a 53-33 vote (It needed 60 to pass). Dems were hoping to refill FEMA’s depleting disaster fund. Cantor again led the charge, insisting the House needed to make more spending cuts. He insisted however that “no one is holding any money hostage.” GOP Sen. John Thune of South Dakota echoed the argument, telling reporters “We have got to find a way to pay for these things.” After a GOP-led filibuster and the bill almost dying in the House, it eventually passed. Hurricane Sandy, 2012 The natural disaster was the second-costliest hurricane in the history of the United States, affecting 24 states with particularly damaging effects in New Jersey and New York. House Republicans demanded disaster aid be offset by cuts, delaying aid by several weeks. House Speaker John Boehner was forced to abandon a vote on a $50 billion package on New Years Day, and when lawmakers finally voted, 179 Republicans opposed it. Congress also approved a $9.7 billion package to pay flood insurance claims, with unanimous support from the Senate and 67 Republicans voting “no.” The decision created a backlash within the Republican Party. Some lawmakers ripped Boehner for reneging on a promise to vote for Sandy aid spending, accusing him of throwing states like his and New York under the bus because they aren’t red states. --------- I've only listed 1/2 of the bullshit of using politics to play with American lives especially when we know every year since the 1990s there's always some dumbass excuse why the GOP needs to vote NAY even when they know many of these disasters are hurting/killing their constituents. Congress needs to setup an alternate plan on funding FEMA with extra funds when we already know our GOP will find some bullshit excuse every damn year to say no to "extra disaster aid". On top of that, private insurance in states like Florida is very corrupt when victims file damage claims. Recently, I saw a documentary on this problem along with watching on TV a congressional hearing about the problem. Most of the Democrats seemed very interested in listening to the insurance industry whistleblowers while the Republicans seemed disinterested. For example in Florida...a claim adjuster puts in a 300K claim for their home owner that had just watched their home wash away (it's gone). They lost everything in flooding from a Hurricane. The insurance company only approves 7 - 15k and then they raise the insurance rates of the home owner. I just don't get it...these are their states regardless if it's Hurricane Helene or some other Hurricane, Flood, Winter Storm, or Tornado 40 years ago when Regan was President. I remember FEMA's problems way back in the 80s when I was in high school and college...it occurred when President Reagan was in charge. My parents (Republicans) voted for Reagan after we moved from Kentucky. We were shocked to see the same bullshit continuing. Yet, we did not blame Reagan and we did not blame the Republicans that voted NAY to help FEMA with additional disaster relief funds. Instead, we blamed FEMA because we said they were not managed properly, poor leadership and poorly managed their resources. Today, Hurricane Helene is a huge problem because most of the hardest-hit areas have been caused by Floods. Those hardest-hit areas also have some of the lowest flood coverage insurance in the United States. It's a sad reality not just for the areas hit hard by Hurricane Helene...only a small percentage of Americans in the United States have Flood insurance coverage along with the fact that more Americans are building schools, homes, and businesses in areas that insurance companies consider to be high risk. Congress (Republicans and Democrats) need to do much more than learn how to budget the country. They need a backup plan when a department like FEMA doesn't have the resources and funds to help people when a natural disaster hits instead of being dependent upon Congress that's habitually not up to the task at least for the past 40 years and has often relied upon the National Guard, Active Duty Army Corps of Engineers to put communities back together. Just as sad, home ownership is not an affordable option for most Americans and the GOP (Trump) solution is to use our National Forest Reserves / National Parks (some of that 154 protected areas known as national forests, covering 188,336,179 acres) to build affordable housing...most of which is ALSO in high risk areas that's susceptible to Natural Disasters. "round and round in circles we go" wrbtrader
It's amazing what all these random people on social media claim and none of it turns out to be true. BTW -- I was at the airport and overhead 4 Trump staffers stating that they watched him rape a 13 year old girl multiple times. My claim is just about as believable as hers.
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas' words have come back to haunt him as video from earlier this year touting the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA’s) preparedness before Hurricane Helene exposed shortcomings in the organization. Mayorkas this week warned that FEMA was running out of funds as hurricane season continued to slam the southeastern United States. The organization has enough funds to deal with the aftermath of Helene but would not have enough to "make it through the season." This warning stands in stark contrast to previous comments Mayorkas made in the summer assuring that FEMA would be able to handle upcoming weather crises. "FEMA is tremendously prepared," Mayorkas assured reporters in a video from July. "This is what we do, this is what they do, and the key here … is to also make sure the communities who are potentially impacted are prepared as well."
By the way... here is your DAILY REMINDER that the Hurricane Relief money raising efforts being promoted by Trump are nothing more than grifts that put the money in his pocket. Give to legitimate organizations like the Red Cross where you money will actually be used for hurricane relief.