Vance pledges to cut through red tape to help Virginia recover from Hurricane Helene

“We’re going to try to make sure the federal government does right by them,” Vance said of the residents who are still recuperating from the storm. “And I’m going to go back to Washington with that message and that directive from the people here on the ground in Damascus.”

Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) also appeared with Vance on Monday. They met with the Damascus Fire Department before holding a closed-door briefing with local leaders in the southwest Virginia town that borders the Tennessee state line.

Damascus Mayor Katie Lamb, state Sen. Todd Pillion, and Damascus town manager Chris Bell were among the leaders who attended the briefing with Vance.

“Mr. Vice President, thank you for keeping your word,” Youngkin said. “When you were here in October, right after this devastating hurricane, you said you’d be back, and we are so honored that this is your first official visit.”

In November, the Virginia Economic Development Partnership estimated the storm’s direct and indirect economic effects across the southwest Virginia region cost more than $2 billion.

Youngkin implored that funding from the continuing resolution that Congress passed last month should trickle down into the Old Dominion.

“There was a very large CR pass with a lot of disaster funding in it, and that money needs to flow,” he said. “And what I so appreciate is the vice president and the president understand that the funds are available, but the funds have to get to the people to use them.”

During a question-and-answer moment with the press, Vance reiterated his claims of getting federal funding into the hands of local Virginians.

“The most important thing that we’re doing is trying to pick up and fill the gap where the insurance isn’t necessarily available. And there’s been about $4 billion that’s been earmarked for the state of Virginia, only about $47 million has actually been delivered, or even promised to be delivered to the state of Virginia,” Vance explained. “So really, what we’re going to have to do where there are major gaps in flood insurance is to ensure that the people’s government is actually helping people rebuild and recover as these terrible floods actually happen.”

Virginia was among a handful of states still rebuilding from the storm, including Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.

Vance’s visit came after President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump toured parts of North Carolina, which was also damaged by Helene, and Los Angeles, which is currently battling devastating wildfires, Friday in his first domestic visit as president before heading to Nevada on Saturday.

The two visits from the men are a show of force that domestic policies will be a key matter for the Trump-Vance administration.

“The basic thrust of Donald Trump’s administration, whether it’s defense policy to helping people in Damascus, is we’re putting people over bureaucrats,” said Vance.

The president called for the elimination of the Federal Emergency Management Agency during a briefing in Fletcher, North Carolina.

“I’ll also be signing an executive order to begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA or maybe getting rid of FEMA. I think, frankly, FEMA is not good. I think when you have a problem like this, I think you want to use your state to fix it and not waste time calling FEMA,” he said. “I think we’re going to recommend that FEMA go away.”

Vance was asked about the president’s FEMA comments Monday, though he did not explicitly endorse eradicating the agency. However, he did call FEMA “broken.”

“Well, first of all, it’s not just FEMA, right? There’s Housing and Urban Development. There’s the Department of Agriculture. There’s a lot of different agencies that are coordinating responses to this particular problem,” Vance first answered.

He then went on to point out the gap between FEMA’s recovery funding and the actual costs Virginians are facing.

“I believe the maximum you can get from FEMA for home rebuilding is $42,000, right? The average amount of damages I heard today is about $130,000, right? So that’s a massive, you know, $80- $90,000 shortfall that we need to make sure that other parts of government are fixing,” said Vance.

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Before ending the press briefing, Vance again stressed that Washington bureaucrats need to “get out of the way” and allow funding to reach the American public.

“Look, this is a part of our country, Appalachian Virginia, that has been ignored and left behind for decades, for generations in this country,” Vance said. “Again, we’re never going to be perfect, but I promise you that this administration will not forget you. We love you. We’re rooting for you, and we want to be part of this incredible recovery here in southwestern Virginia.”