Stalemate in Congress causes growing backlog of emergency aid loan applications in Helene-devastated North Carolina

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

For example, the hand-crafted gift shop called “Local Color” is accustomed to thousands of dollars in sales during an average weekend, Mayor Maureen Copelof said. But during one weekend after Hurricane Helene, “All they sold was one bar of soap.”

The nearby seafood restaurant was so inundated with water from the hurricane floods, Copelof said the owner initially told her, “I’m not even sure if I should try to rebuild.”

Brevard was among the dozens of North Carolina communities devastated by Hurricane Helene. But the crisis has morphed in October and November, into a painful and uncertain wait for federal aid that seems to have stalled.

“These businesses and these home owners are desperate and I am worried,” Copelof told CBS News.  “October is our biggest month for tourism, and sales were down 50 to 75%.” 

Helene ransacked western North Carolina on Sept. 27, leaving a path of devastation, death and an economic calamity from which the state will need years to recover.

A standoff in Congress has indefinitely delayed efforts to replenish the U.S. Small Business Administration’s disaster loan fund, which offers emergency loans to help homeowners and businesses rebuild damaged properties.  The loans are also used to help upgrade homes and businesses to prevent against future storm damage.  The money can also be used to help offset the loss of sales during business closures.

Despite warnings from the Biden administration that the federal fund for the loans would be fully exhausted by October, Congress departed Washington before Election Day without passing legislation to replenish the fund. And upon its return from its recess last week, the Senate held a hearing to discuss plans for future funding of the loan program. But no legislation has been drafted, nor has a date been set to vote on any measure to restore the money. 

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

 When asked how soon the funding will be needed for the communities impacted by Hurricane Helene, Budd responded, “It was needed yesterday.”

“These aren’t just numbers on paper, it’s real money.  It’s our livelihoods,” said Mike Hawkins, who owns the Pisgah Fish Camp restaurant in Brevard, North Carolina.  The building was damaged so severely that it can’t be occupied.

Hawkins has shuttered the business until at least January or February. The restaurant suffered nearly $300,000 in damaged equipment, including its refrigeration units and fryers, which is a uniquely painful loss for a restaurant that’s partly famous for its onion rings.

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

In the meantime, the backlog of applications for emergency loans has skyrocketed in recent weeks, according to a CBS News review.  A federal official said 12,000 disaster loans have been prepared for approval and funding, totaling approximately $1 billion in help. The Small Business Administration is also processing an additional 60,000 applications nationwide, as the impasse over funding in Congress continues.

A Congressional aide told CBS News approximately 40% of the pending applications are in North Carolina.

The loan applications have been submitted by disaster victims, including homeowners and small businesses, in communities nationwide. Victims of hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires and other emergencies have sought aid, but Congressional aides told CBS News the historic and widespread devastation from Hurricane Helene has dramatically increased the number of victims who have sought the loans.

Sen. Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat who chaired a hearing last week on the crisis, said “this is one of the longest times in my memory that we have gone without Congress providing disaster funding. That is unacceptable. It is well past time we get aid out to the many people in need, after the many disasters we have faced over the past two years.”

In testimony to the Senate panel, U.S. Small Business administrator Isabel Guzman said the agency “provides support for those who don’t have insurance or are underinsured.”

“With delays, this further impacts them,” she added. 

In North Carolina alone, the damage from Helene is sweeping and historic in scope. A report from Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, said at least 151,000 homes and 500,000 small businesses suffered damage.    

“We are now 54 days past Helene’s initial impact,” Tillis said. “Many in the mainstream media and 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 of the communities who are awaiting the emergency loans are launching local fundraisers to offer temporary help to impacted businesses. In Brevard, the popular local band Steep Canyon Rangers staged a fundraising concert along the city’s main street on a late October evening. In folding chairs, crowds blanketed the street.

Tickets were free, and attendees were asked to donate to a charity formed to help fund the storm-impacted community members.

The Transylvania County, North Carolina, fundraiser for needy businesses has raised $200,000 to help bridge the gap until the Small Business Administration loans are finally funded and dispersed by the federal government.

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

Scott MacFarlane

Scott MacFarlane is a congressional correspondent. He has covered Washington for two decades, earning 20 Emmy and Edward R. Murrow awards. His reporting has resulted directly in the passage of five new laws.