Biden did not say 'no more' aid for hurricane victims

"'$2.4 billion aid to Ukraine' vs 'No more aid for Hurricane Helene' - 3 days apart," says a September 29, 2024 X post.

It includes two short videos of Biden: one in which he announces a $2.4 billion package of security assistance for Ukraine and another in which he says his administration is providing aid to states affected by Hurricane Helene.

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Screenshot of an X post taken October 8, 2024

The claim circulated elsewhere on X, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

Helene made landfall September 26 on the Florida Panhandle as a massive Category 4 hurricane. Emergency workers are pushing to provide relief as the state of Florida braces for Hurricane Milton, another potentially devastating storm.

Misinformation about government aid has spread widely online -- amplified in part by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who falsely claimed assistance had instead been spent on migrants.

"No money is being diverted from disaster response needs," the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which coordinates the federal response to disasters, says on its website (archived here).

"FEMA's disaster response efforts and individual assistance is funded through the Disaster Relief Fund."

Jason Thomas Barnosky, associate director of the RAND Corporation's Disaster Management & Resilience Program (archived here), said the posts misrepresent how federal spending works. 

"When the federal budget is passed and money is appropriated to different agencies, the president and the executive branch do not have the authority to spend that money however they want," he said October 3.

'Different budget line'

A reverse image search revealed the first clip shows Biden speaking during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's September 26 White House visit (archived here and here).

The United States has committed billions of dollars in assistance to Ukraine since Russia's February 2022 invasion. However, Jeffrey Schlegelmilch, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University's School of Climate (archived here), said the aid is separate from the permanent Disaster Relief Fund. 

"That money that is earmarked for Ukraine cannot be spent on domestic disaster relief," he said October 2, 2024. "It's a different budget line, and it's tied to the laws that Congress passes."

The second video shared online was captured September 29, when Biden answered a reporter's question at Dover Air Force Base about the impact of Hurricane Helene (archived here).

He does not rule out future aid, as the posts claim. Instead, he tells the reporter that the federal government is giving states "everything we have" and that "we’re working hard," the White House transcript shows (archived here).

Federal spending

The Stafford Act guides emergency relief in the United States (archived here), including the disaster declaration process.

Biden on September 28 approved a major disaster declaration for the state of Florida, allowing FEMA to provide direct support for emergency activities. He later did the same for North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia.

"Much of the federal disaster relief provided in accordance with a Presidential Disaster Declaration is paid for by the Disaster Relief Fund," said Samantha Penta, an associate professor in the Emergency Management and Homeland Security Department at the University at Albany (archived here).

Agencies such as the US Department of Housing and Urban Development can also contribute resources, she said October 3.

Biden wrote a letter October 4 requesting Congress to approve additional funding for storm victims (archived here). Although he expressed confidence that the Disaster Relief Fund has enough money to meet immediate needs, he said it "does face a shortfall at the end of the year."

More than two dozen lawmakers have called for Congress to return from its preelection recess to approve supplemental funding, Politico reported.

AFP has fact-checked other misinformation about Hurricane Helene here.