Congressional gridlock leads to growing backlog in emergency aid loan applications in Helen-devastated North Carolina

By phone from her office, just steps from Main Street, the mayor of Brevard, North Carolina, shared the pain of local businesses on the corner.

For example, the artisan gift shop called “Local Color” is accustomed to making sales of several thousand dollars over the course of an average weekend, Mayor Maureen Copelof said. But for a weekend afterwards Hurricane Helene“All they sold was a bar of soap.”

The nearby seafood restaurant was so flooded by water from the hurricane that Copelof said the owner initially told him, “I’m not sure I should even try to rebuild.”

Brevard was one of dozens North Carolina Communities devastated by Hurricane Helene. But the crisis transformed in October and November into a painful and uncertain wait for federal aid that seemed to have stalled.

“These businesses and these owners are desperate and I’m concerned,” Copelof told CBS News. “October is our busiest month for tourists, and sales are down 50 to 75 percent.”

Helen rampaged across western North Carolina on September 27, leaving behind a path of devastation, death, and an economic calamity from which the state would need several years to recover.

An impasse in Congress has efforts indefinitely delayed to replenish the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Disaster Loan Fund, which provides emergency loans to help homeowners and businesses rebuild damaged properties. Loans are also used to help upgrade homes and businesses to prevent future storm damage. The money can also be used to help offset lost sales during business closures.

Despite warnings from the Biden administration that the federal loan fund would be completely exhausted by October, Congress left Washington before Election Day without passing legislation to replenish the fund. And upon returning from recess last week, the Senate held a hearing to discuss plans for future funding of the loan program. But no legislation has been drafted, and no date has been set for a vote on any measure to return the money.

“There’s always concern about how slow Congress is,” Sen. Ted Budd, Republican of North Carolina, told CBS News. “But I’m talking to my colleagues in the Senate to make sure this emergency funding is provided and that it’s spent appropriately.”

When asked how soon funding would be needed for communities affected by Hurricane Helene, Budd responded, “It was needed yesterday. »

“It’s not just numbers on paper, it’s real money. It’s our livelihood,” said Mike Hawkins, owner of Pisgah Fish Camp restaurant in Brevard, North Carolina. The building was so badly damaged that it can no longer be occupied.

Hawkins has closed its doors until at least January or February. The restaurant suffered nearly $300,000 in property damage, including its refrigeration units and fryers, making for a particularly painful loss for a restaurant partly famous for its onion rings.

“Small businesses have very little margin for error,” Hawkins told CBS News.

At the same time, the backlog of emergency loan applications has skyrocketed in recent weeks, according to a CBS News study. A federal official said 12,000 disaster loans had been prepared for approval and funding, totaling about $1 billion in aid. The Small Business Administration is also processing an additional 60,000 applications nationwide as the impasse over funding in Congress persists.

A congressional aide told CBS News that about 40% of the pending applications are in North Carolina.

Loan applications were submitted by disaster victims, including homeowners and small businesses, in communities across the country. Victims of hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires and other emergencies have called for help, but congressional aides told CBS News that the historic and widespread devastation caused by the hurricane Helene significantly increased the number of victims who applied for loans.

Sen. Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat who chaired a hearing last week on the crisis, said: “This is one of the longest periods in my memory without Congress providing funding in the event of a crisis.” disaster. providing aid to the many people in need, after the many disasters we have faced over the past two years.

In testimony before the Senate panel, U.S. Small Business Administrator Isabel Guzman said: the agency “provides support to those who are uninsured or underinsured.

“With the delays, it impacts them more,” she added.

In North Carolina alone, the damage caused by Hélène is considerable and historic in scale. A report from Senator Thom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina, said at least 151,000 homes and 500,000 small businesses suffered damage.

“We are now 54 days from Helen’s initial impact,” Tillis said. “Many people in the mainstream media and the outside world may have moved on and returned to business as usual, but for my constituents in Western North Carolina: life is now measured in the time before and after Hurricane Helene.”

Due to Washington’s inaction, some communities awaiting emergency loans are launching local fundraisers to offer temporary relief to affected businesses. In Brevard, popular local band Steep Canyon Rangers held a fundraising concert along the town’s Main Street in late October. On folding chairs, the crowd invaded the street.

Tickets were free and attendees were asked to make a donation to a charity established to help fund community members affected by the storm.

Transylvania County, North Carolina’s fundraiser for businesses in need has raised $200,000 to help bridge the gap until Small Business Administration loans are finally funded and distributed by the federal government.

“We needed to do something so that these businesses didn’t literally close their doors,” Copelof said.