House speaker on hurricanes, FEMA, January 6 and election certification
(CBS, KYMA/KECY) - House Speaker Mike Johnson spoke with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation Sunday on FEMA funding and resource distribution.
Brennan brought up her interview with North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis from last Sunday, where Tillis said he'd "like for Congress to provide some certainty by voting now on aid and then come back after the election to do more," but lawmakers aren't scheduled to return to Capitol Hill "for another month." When asked if it can wait, Johnson said:
"It can wait because remember, the day before Hurricane Helene hit, made landfall in Florida, and then went up through the states and wound up in Senator Tillis's state of North Carolina, Congress appropriated $20 billion additional to FEMA so that they would have the necessary resources to address immediate needs, and so we put that into the coffers. I just checked Margaret as of this morning, less than 2% of that funding has actually been distributed, right around 2% of it, so we need FEMA to do its job. That- those funds, that money is provided so that storm victims can have the immediate necessities met. And then what happens after every storm is that the states have to assess and calculate the actual needs, and then they submit to Congress that request. As soon as that is done, Congress will meet and in bipartisan fashion, we will address those needs. We'll provide the additional resources. But it would be premature to call everyone back now, because these storms are so large in their scope and magnitude, it's going to take a little bit of time to make those calculations. In North Carolina, I was there in the worst hit areas around Asheville with Senator Tillis and Senator Budd, Chuck Edwards, the congressman that represents that area, the devastation is broad, and people were still being rescued 13 days out from the storm. That was just a few days back. So they still have a lot to do. It's going to take a long time to make those calculations, but Congress is ready to act, and we will."
During the interview, Brennan and Johnson talked about the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reporting this year's hurricane season, which runs until the end of November, being "the busiest seasons on record." When asked why not get ahead of this and whether it's a gamble to wait, Johnson said:
"No, it's not...as I just said, Congress can't meet and just send money on a guess or an estimate of what the damages are. The way supplemental disaster funding is provided is that, you know, the state sends in actual needs. It's assessed by Congress and then handed out that way. But again, remember, they have billions, tens of billions of dollars that were already sent to FEMA, one day before Helene made landfall. So they have plenty of resources. And in fact, the administration, Secretary Mayorkas said himself, DHS, FEMA is division- division of Homeland Security. He said just a few days ago on his telecast to the media that they have what they need right now. Everyone understands and knows more will be necessary. But if we meet in a few weeks, right after the election, when Congress is set to go back, that is about the right amount of time where we'll be able to handle those needs."
Later in the interview, Brennan and Johnson talked about January 6 and election certification, with Brennan asking Johnson if he can assure Americans there will not be violence after this year's presidential election, to which Johnson answered:
"Yes, I don't think we'll see anything like that. I certainly pray and hope that's true. There's a lot of great work that's been done at the federal, state and local level to prevent the chaos that ensued after 2020. The Covid election year, when all the states were changing their laws and regulations without the legislatures approving that. That brought up constitutional questions. There were all sorts of concerns about fraud and irregularity and all those things. The good thing is, and I think everybody should be encouraged, that since that time, most of the state legislatures went to work to shore up their systems to ensure that those kinds of things didn't happen in the future. And I think that that's going to give us a high degree of certainty, and certainly hope that this will be a free and fair and legal election. I think everybody on both sides should be praying and hoping for that, and that's what I hope and expect. And so when we get to January 6th, as you know, the Constitution, our laws require us to get this done on a certain timetable, and we will. Congress will follow the Constitution. I guarantee you that I've made a career of that. You know, I've demonstrated it over and over and over throughout my life, and as Speaker of the House. And we will take care of this so everybody can can have a sense of certainty about that. Now look, there are members on both sides of the aisle who may object to slates of electors. That is commonplace now. In fact, Democrats have objected to slates of electors after every single Republican presidential victory this century. So there's nothing really irregular about that. And when people say that they've got to watch it closely, they're saying that they'll do their job."
To watch the full interview between Brennan and Johnson, click here.
