GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — On Tuesday, Michigan Congresswoman Hillary Scholten addressed misinformation spreading on social media.
Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, have accused FEMA of spending all of its money to help immigrants who are in the United States illegally despite the fact that FEMA has said that is not true.
13 ON YOUR SIDE spoke to Scholten, who said she is frustrated by what is going on in Washington.
She told us that when lawmakers were passing the Stop the Gap spending bill to fund the government through mid-December, Republicans were the ones who did not include the additional $10 billion in FEMA funding.
Nevertheless, FEMA has come out and said they do have enough money to respond to the damage caused by Hurricane Helene.
Scholten said misinformation being spread about a lack of funding has created a sense of fear and mistrust from residents against the thousands of FEMA employees and volunteers who are working on the ground in recovery efforts.
"These severe weather events are only increasing, and we knew, we anticipated this with hurricane season right around the corner," she said. "We wanted to include it. Republicans didn't include it. We have to get back to Washington and make sure that we have the resources we need to address these hard hit areas."
As far as when Congress will return to session, Scholten said that is a question for the Speaker of the House. As for her, she plans to continue to put pressure on the speaker to make sure resources are available to help people caught in the middle of natural disasters.
