Congressman Wesley Bell is calling for President Donald Trump to quickly approve federal tornado disaster aid for the St. Louis region.
“We need more urgency,” Bell said. “Folks are in need in one of our most underserved communities in this entire region. And so, I think that it's important to get the help to the folks that need it as quickly as possible. We are urging the administration to not take its time, but to act immediately.”
During an appearance on the Politically Speaking Hour on St. Louis on the Air, Bell, D-St. Louis, said he’s going to remain concerned about the status of Gov. Mike Kehoe’s disaster aid plea until Trump approves it.
Kehoe sent the request for individual aid on May 25, which if approved would authorize the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide housing, transportation, health care and child care assistance to tornado victims.
While Trump’s approval of a separate request for March and April storms last week prompted some optimism that the GOP chief executive will also grant Kehoe’s request for tornado-related relief, Bell said, “Until it's done, we're not going to rest on our laurels.”
It’s typically taken six to eight weeks between when a disaster happens and when a president approves a major disaster declaration. There is precedent, though, of quicker action, such as when President Joe Biden backed a disaster declaration for 2022 flooding in the St. Louis region.
“It's still the president's discretion,” Bell said. “We’ve been working with our senators. We've been working with our local and state legislators and elected leaders. Everyone is united in their support of this disaster declaration being authorized.”
Shifting the burden
Officials in Trump’s administration have said for months that they want state and local governments to take more responsibility in responding to natural disasters.
That’s the message Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem conveyed last week during the first meeting of the FEMA Review Council, which Trump created as a way to overhaul how FEMA operates.
"If we do what the president has tasked us to do, I believe this agency needs to be renamed," Noem said during the meeting. "Our goal is that states should manage their emergencies and we come in and support them."
Bell said he’s not going to argue “states can't do more when they have the resources to do so.” But added that doesn’t mean that the federal government should be “off the hook” for helping out, especially since FEMA can provide considerably more aid to individuals than state or local governments can.
“We see folks on the ground from regular citizens doing their part. We see our local and state officials. We see federal officials,” Bell said. “The federal government needs to step up and do its role as well.”
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Darrious Varner is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
