GOP Sen. Ted Budd Pushes Trump’s FEMA Migrant Funding Claim Slammed As ‘Conspiracy Theory Junk’ By NC’s Senior GOP Senator
Senator Ted Budd (R-NC) pushed former President Donald Trump’s claim that emergency funding for the federal response to Hurricane Helene recovery efforts in North Carolina was being spent on immigrants in an apparent break with Republican senior colleague, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC).
Appearing on Fox & Friends in an interview with host Lawrence Jones on Monday, Budd complained that the Biden administration had allocated a “billion dollars” to “illegals” – money that was “not coming to western North Carolina.”
Jones asked: “Why are residents feeling frustrated with the response from FEMA?”
Budd replied: “A lot of bureaucratic hand wringing. Money going to illegals that is not coming to North Carolina. This is the worst hit area, misallocated time and dollars. It is here and coming. We want to be thankful for those on the ground. FEMA, I believe their heart is in the right place. It is here and getting better, finally, after decisions from the Biden-Harris White House they are now here, but it took so long. They were ready to come.”
The junior senator’s comments appear to come as a split with Tillis who appeared Sunday on CBS’ Face the Nation and blasted many of the claims about what was happening with relief in North Carolina as “conspiracy theory junk” pushed by people who were not actually on the ground.
In response to a question about Trump’s claims that funding had been funneled to migrants, he said that immigration is “not yet” impacting “the flow of resources to western North Carolina.”
Tillis said he understood Trump’s funding complaint as part of a broader criticism on the Biden administration, he said: “I think that the President is right to say that billions of dollars is being spent as a result of Biden’s failed immigration policies and border policies. However, we have the resources that we need, we’re going to have to go back and pass more resources.”
Watch above on Fox News.
