Recovery and rebuilding efforts continue across the southeastern United States in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene’s devastation last September. In the break-neck pace of the newscycle since the general election campaigns, one of the most under-covered stories from 2024 is how the Biden administration withheld desperately needed hurricane aid from conservative citizens impacted by the hurricane. Freshman Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C., has been deeply involved in recovery efforts and recently visited impacted North Carolina communities with President Donald Trump. Harris joined The Signal Sitdown this week to provide an update on how Trump and Republicans are trying to rectify the wrongs done to hurricane victims by the Biden administration.

As for, “where do things stand now, they've got a long ways to go,” Harris told me. But “?the American people have been doing a great job, I feel like, of stepping up and helping. People literally came in from all over the country, offering aid, offering help.”

Without the generous aid and hard work from private citizens, Harris suggested things in western North Carolina would be much worse because of the “nightmare” response from FEMA and the Biden administration.

“[?The] corruption that was uncovered and was exposed really began to bring things to light,” Harris said. “For the federal government, through FEMA in this particular case, to have been so corrupted to avoid helping those who were perceived to have conservative values or even to support President Trump in the upcoming election—that's almost criminal.”

Other reports have uncovered that FEMA, under the Biden administration, had spent millions on housing migrants in hotels throughout the country, rather than having that money ready for natural disaster aid.

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