This year’s hurricane season has left the southeastern United States devastated. Hurricanes Helene and Milton have affected millions of people in the states of Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. 

On Oct. 2 Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told the media that FEMA will not have enough funding for hurricane season, which lasts from June to November. 

While the federal government, specifically the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), has approved close to $2 billion in aid, it has still been under fire for its response to the storms. This is because the federal government has only issued relief payments of $750 million compared to the $17.9 billion in aid it has released to Israel in their war against Hamas since Oct. 7, over $1 billion in humanitarian aid to Gaza, and $59.8 billion in “security assistance” to Ukraine since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021. 

I understand America’s place as a superpower, but at the same time, I am concerned that our federal government’s priorities are out of touch with the interests of its everyday Americans.

To be clear, this will not be the only aid issued by FEMA, it is just the first payments. FEMA fears that misinformation will discourage those affected to not apply for the benefits.

From my point of view, the optics of the Biden administration’s response doesn’t look good. When Helene, a category four hurricane, made landfall on Sept. 26, Biden was lounging at his beach home in Delaware, Vice President Kamala Harris was campaigning on the West Coast and Mayorkas hosted an awards ceremony in Los Angeles. 

Additionally, vice president and Democratic presidential candidate Harris announced via X that the U.S. would be donating $157 million to Lebanon for “additional assistance.” A little more than hour later, she posted again to share that the Biden-Harris administration would be donating only $100 million to repair Interstate 40 in western North Carolina. 

Although the hurricanes briefly dominated the newscycle, and the presidential race is in a dead sprint up to its Nov. 5 voting day, we still must have regard for our fellow Americans who have lost everything in the southeast. As many as 100,000 people in the Ashville, North Carolina, area still don’t have running water, and officials don’t expect it to be restored for weeks.

I firmly believe that Americans are kind and considerate people that want to see their country fight to protect freedom and democracy abroad, but not at the expense of their quality of life. Despite unemployment being lower than in recent years and inflation slowing, Americans are dealing with higher prices across the board from grocery items to gas prices to rent and home prices.

FEMA should not be charged with the task of rebuilding millions of people’s homes after these severe storms. Still, the situation begs the question, what is the federal government’s biggest priority? 

People can answer this question at the ballot box in a few short weeks, and the election might hinge on battleground states of Georgia and North Carolina which were hit by Helene. Time will tell how large the response will loom in deciding the next president of the U.S.