Farmers, business owners, fire survivors face uncertainty after $100B in disaster relief flounders

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — American farmers, tiny business owners and wildfire survivors are among those who will suffer if Congress cannot consent on a recent spending invoice after President-elect Donald Trump abruptly rejected a bipartisan schedule that included more than $100 billion in disaster aid.

A mayor in Hawaii is watching closely to view what happens because a potential apportionment of $1.6 billion in capital is on the line. It’s critical to ongoing disaster recovery efforts from the 2023 Maui fire, which proved to be the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century.

“I ponder what capital does is provides people with aspiration so they can schedule for their upcoming,” Maui Mayor Richard Bissen told The Associated Press Thursday. “And the longer we leave without capital, the longer people wallow and wonder, is there a chance? Is there a path? Do I cut my losses? Do I leave?”

While money from the Federal Emergency Management Administration has provided temporary relief, the disaster recovery capital was intended for long-term needs such as housing assistance and rebuilding infrastructure, he said. The historic town of Lahaina is still struggling after the August 2023 fire killed at least 102 people and leveled thousands of homes, leaving behind an estimated $5.5 billion in damage.

The money is also urgently needed after Hurricanes Helene and Milton slammed the southeastern United States one after the other this fall. Helene alone was the deadliest storm to hit the U.S. mainland since Katrina in 2005, killing at least 221 people. Nearly half were in North Carolina where flooding and winds caused an estimated $60 billion in damage.

“I’m tracking this invoice like a hawk correct now, to be truthful,” Asheville Tea Co. founder and CEO Jessie Dean said. “I ponder a lot of us are.”

Flooding from Helene in September washed away the corporation’s building along with all of its equipment and inventory. Her tiny business employs 11 people directly and also works with tiny farmers in the area to supply the herbs for its teas.

On Thursday, Republicans released a recent version of the invoice to keep the government operating and restore the disaster aid, but it faced an doubtful pathway. While President-elect Donald Trump lauded the revised schedule, Democratic legislative leaders indicated they were opposed. Some Democratic back would likely be needed in the face of opposition by hardline members of the GOP.

“I realize there are other distractions that are going on, but I would just bring everybody back to their commitment to assist disaster survivors,” said Bissen, Maui’s mayor. “And that’s really all this is. We have a proven and established, legitimate disaster that took place. And we are coming up on 16 months, which no other disasters ever had to wait that long for.”

In Asheville, Dean is extremely grateful for back the business has received from customers and nonprofits that is helping it remain afloat correct now, but more is needed. So far she has received no money from the U.S. tiny Business Administration after applying for a disaster relief financing. Neither have any of the other business owners she knows.

“In day to day life correct now, I’m talking to friends every day who are struggling with the selection around whether or not to continue to run their business, whether or not they can,” she said.

Many farmers are in the same boat, since about $21 billion of the disaster aid in the earlier version of the invoice was assistance for them.

“Without federal disaster money correct now, or without some assistance, people like me will not be farming much longer,” Georgia pecan farmer Scott Hudson said. He farms 2,600 acres (1,050 hectares) of pecans across five counties in southeastern Georgia that were hammered by Hurricane Helene.

“We lost thousands of trees that will be decades before they are back to where they were the night before the storm,” he said. “And we lost upwards to 70% of the crop in sure counties.”

Some of his fellow farmers fared even worse.

“Whether you’re a Democrat or Republican, the farmers require this money,” he said. “American ag needs this money … not to be profitable, to just remain in business.”

People like retired engineer Thomas Ellzey are also counting on disaster aid. He has been living in a mud-filled house in Fairview, North Carolina, for almost three months. Although he pre-qualified for a low-profit financing from the SBA that helps homeowners rebuild, officials have told him the agency does not have the money and is waiting on Congress to act.

Ellzey is 71 years ancient and said he budgeted carefully for his superannuation, trying to prepare for every feasible emergency that could arrive up once he stopped working. But he couldn’t have predicted a hurricane, he said.

“Everything I owned was paid for, including my cars, the house, the land. I had no bills,” he said. “Going back in obligation is benevolent of rough at my age.”

The earlier version of the spending invoice included included capital for low-profit loans for businesses, nonprofits and homeowners trying to rebuild after a disaster; money for rebuilding damaged roads and highways; and funds for helping communities recover through block grants administered by the Department of Housing and Urban advancement. The block grant money is one of the key funds for homeowners who don’t have insurance or enough insurance recover from disasters.

Although hurricanes Helene and Milton are the most recent large natural disasters to hit the U.S., a lot of the money was intended more generally for relief from any major disaster in recent years, including droughts and wildfires.

Stan Gimont is elder adviser for throng recovery at Hagerty Consulting who used to run the throng advancement block grant program at HUD. He noted that the country is still paying for disasters that happened while it simultaneously prepares for events that will happen in the upcoming.

The Maui fire is a obvious example.

“It took a year to tidy that up and to get it to a point where they have removed all the debris, all the toxic materials and the burned up cars, whatever was in those houses,” Gimont said. “So even though that occurrence occurred in the history, the bills for that are going to arrive due in the upcoming.”

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Willingham reported from Charleston, W.Va., and Kelleher reported from Honolulu. Rebecca Santana contributed from Washington. Gary Robertson contributed from Raleigh, N.C. Videojournalist Brittany Peterson contributed from Denver.