Helene aid hang-ups prompt GOP misinformation, blame game
Water from Waynesville’s Richland Creek surges through Frog Level on Sept. 27, 2024.
Cory Vaillancourt photo
As anger grows over the slow pace of federal recovery funding for Hurricane Helene and Republicans in charge of recovery continue to scramble for political cover, a spokesperson for Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-Henderson) delivered a long list of false claims relating to Edwards’ role in procuring the help — or not procuring the help — Western North Carolina still so desperately needs.
Lake Silver, Edwards’ field representative hired in 2023, spoke at an elected officials reception hosted by the Haywood County Chamber of Commerce on Sept. 3, where leaders from municipalities still waiting on recovery funding a year after the storm heard Silver begin his remarks with a broad statement about Edwards’ role in last December’s disaster package, known as the American Relief Act.
“As an appropriator of the legislative branch, he felt he had an obligation to author the $110 billion supplement in a time where funding at the federal level is hotly debated, hotly contested,” Silver said. “Congressman Edwards had absolutely zero bones about asking for $110 billion for Western North Carolina and the affected areas of Helene.”
The record tells a different story. The $110 billion bill, formally H.R. 10545, was introduced by the House Appropriations Chair, Rep. Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma). Edwards, a member of the committee, signed on as an original cosponsor but was not the author. Appropriators often take credit for supporting large measures, but authorship belongs to the chair who drafted the legislation.
Silver went further, telling the crowd that the bill’s benefits overwhelmingly flowed mainly to WNC.
Lake Silver.
“Now $110 billion, I want to be clear about that. That is for the entire disaster. Not only was our local area in Western North Carolina affected, there were some other areas, but the lion’s share of that does go to Western North Carolina,” he said.
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That too is false. Division B of the American Relief Act, 2025, known as the Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, was written as a national package.
The largest allocations were $30.8 billion to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for disasters in both 2023 and 2024; $29 billion to FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund; $12 billion in HUD community development grants for disasters in both 2023 and 2024; $8.1 billion to the Federal Highway Administration for transportation infrastructure and the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore; $6 billion to the U.S. Forest Service for wildfires in 2022, 2023 and 2024; $2.3 billion to the National Park Service for disasters “occurring in and prior to calendar year 2024” and $2.25 billion to support U.S. Small Business Administration disaster loans. None of these allocations were earmarked primarily for Western North Carolina.
Later HUD allocations did direct $1.43 billion to North Carolina and $225 million directly to Asheville, but those figures are only a fraction of the total damage incurred across North Carolina — estimated at $60 billion.
Chuck Edwards.
North Carolina is expected to receive between $9-15 billion of the $110 billion bill. Edwards has never responded to inquiries by The Smoky Mountain News about why he couldn’t deliver the full $60 billion, even after then-Gov. Roy Cooper traveled to Washington with a delegation in December 2024 asking for an initial $25 billion.
Silver next turned to individual assistance, attempting to draw a bright line between checks in survivors’ hands and the ARA.
“For the money that you are seeing right now — and folks, there is a lot of money out there — all of the individual assistance dollars that folks who are repairing their homes with right now, folks who are repairing their properties with right now, comes from that $110 billion disaster supplemental,” he said.
Silver’s statement does not match the timeline. FEMA had already begun paying survivors months before the law was signed. By Oct. 9, 2024, FEMA reported $60 million in assistance to households in Western North Carolina. By Oct. 21, 2024, Cooper reported $129 million. By Dec. 12, 2024, the state reported $555 million statewide. All of that predates the ARA. The December measure replenished FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund, but it did not create the money that was already flowing.
Silver then mentioned loans for small businesses.
“All the SBA loans that our business community is able to take advantage of right now comes from that $110 billion SBA loan,” he said.
There is no such thing. The ARA provided $2.25 billion for SBA’s Disaster Loans Program Account, which covers administrative costs and credit. That funding allows the SBA to borrow Treasury funds and issue loans, but it is not a $110 billion loan fund, nor does it mean every loan comes from the ARA. Disaster lending by the SBA is an ongoing program that predates the legislation.
Silver then told the audience about assistance for farmers.
“If there’s farmers in the room, the Farm Service Agency applications that you probably received in the mail that’s already filled out — all you’ve got to do is sign it and send it back — that comes from that $110 billion disaster supplemental,” he said.
The ARA did contain $21 billion in USDA disaster assistance, but again, this was nationwide funding. Farmers in North Carolina may apply, but so may producers in other states affected by 2024 disasters. Suggesting that prefilled applications automatically come from a single law misrepresents the broader system of farm aid programs.
Silver mentioned community development block grants as well.
“Now we’re still working on some programs, but funding for the CDBG-DR program that has been approved on the federal level for the state, I think it’s in a financial approval process right now, and then it will go to the state, that’s also coming from that disaster supplemental,” he said.
That part is mostly accurate. HUD did receive $12 billion in the ARA for community development disaster recovery, including allocations for North Carolina. Still, the funding was national in scope and competitive in allocation.
Silver also credited the bill with repairs to public lands.
“And then our Forest Service and our park service repairs that you’re seeing going on actively right now all comes from that money,” he said.
That claim holds more weight. The bill did appropriate $6.35 billion for the Forest Service and $2.3 billion for the National Park Service. While not every repair in Western North Carolina can be traced to the ARA, much of the work does rely on those funds.
The cumulative effect of Silver’s remarks was to exaggerate Edwards’ authorship of the ARA, overstate Western North Carolina’s share of national funding and mischaracterize the sources of ongoing aid, even as Republican leadership continues to play the blame game over why North Carolina has received less than 10% of the money it needs to make businesses, families and local governments whole again.
On Jan. 24, President Donald Trump said he would put then-RNC Chair Michael Whatley “in charge of making sure everything goes well.” Whatley hasn’t been seen in the disaster area since then. On Aug. 21 in hard-hit Chimney Rock, Cooper — who will likely face Whatley in 2026 for retiring Republican Sen. Thom Tillis’ seat — said recovery was “absolutely not” going well, called Whatley “part of the problem” and added that “we should not be playing political games with disaster recovery.”
Michael Whatley.
After Silver spoke, longtime Haywood County Commission Chair Keven Ensley, a Republican, singled out Cooper and Tillis for praise in keeping recovery nonpartisan.
“When politicians would come into our office, we told them. When the governor came with the senator — U.S. senators came — we told them we don’t want politics, we want help. I don’t care what party you’re with, I want help,” Ensley said. “Two top politicians that helped us more than anything was Gov. Cooper — he came here several times, spent a lot of time here — and [Sen.] Thom Tillis.”
Kevin Ensley.
At the same press event where Trump appointed Whatley as the Helene “recovery czar,” Trump adopted a cooperative tone in saying that “Your new governor [Democrat Josh Stein, who took office Jan. 1], it’s not his fault. He’s brand new to the whole situation. But we’re going to work together with the governor.”
Now, as the clamor over federal funding hang-ups grows louder and outlets like the Washington Post and WRAL report that the Department of Homeland Security has been holding up Helene relief funds, Trump has turned on Stein, who recently requested that promised funding be expedited. Stein’s request prompted Trump last week to say that Stein was “unfit” to run the state.
The one-year anniversary of Hurricane Helene will be marked by commemora tions in Haywood County and elsewhere, beginning the week of Sept. 22.
