WASHINGTON, D.C. — North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and Gov.-Elect Josh Stein are in Washington this week meeting with members of Congress to push for billions of dollars in aid following Helene’s devastation in western North Carolina.


What You Need To Know

  • Gov. Roy Cooper and Gov.-Elect Josh Stein spoke with Spectrum News in Washington

  • Cooper and Stein are lobbying Congress for Helene assistance in N.C.

  • Cooper met with Biden at the White House and numerous lawmakers, including Sens. Thom Tillis and Ted Budd

Cooper and North Carolina officials also met with President Joe Biden at the White House and other lawmakers, including Sens. Thom Tillis and Ted Budd.

The White House has asked Congress to pass $100 billion in aid for agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The money would cover costs for needs around the country, including Helene.

It’s needed because the agencies have dealt an onslaught of disasters that has cost a lot of money.

Cooper is lobbying for $25 billion that he said is needed for North Carolina Helene recovery specifically.

“I don’t think they will approve everything we need, but we have heard from members of Congress and U.S. Senators today [Thursday] that they believe a vote will occur this calendar year,” Cooper told Spectrum News in a exclusive interview in Washington on Thursday. “We think it’s critical that the money get in the coffers now, because you’ve got a lot of federal agencies ready and willing to help but are out of money or close to being out of money and need significant help.”

Timing is key, because if Congress doesn’t pass that aid in the next month or so, new lawmakers will be sworn in, and it’s hard to know if they will be supportive of funding.

Spectrum News spoke with Cooper and Stein in a joint interview. The interview comes the same week the Republican-controlled General Assembly passed a bill that strips significant powers from the governor and attorney general.

While the bill includes a new round of Helene relief provisions that is not the focus of the legislation.

The bill would take away the Democratic governor’s power of appointing members to the State Board of Elections and move it to the state auditor, which will be a Republican.

The bill also strips power from the Democratic attorney general. It bans the AG from taking a legal position that disagrees with the legislature and bans them from participating in litigation outside of the state that might impact state laws.

Republican Senate President Phil Berger has said the changes will better spread authority among executive branch members and targets the politicization of the Department of Justice, by ensuring the attorney general does not undermine state law in out-of-state court proceedings.

Cooper and Stein are against the changes, and it’s likely Cooper will veto the bill in the coming days.

“This bill was described as disaster relief. It’s really only a disaster,” Cooper told Spectrum News. “This guy [Stein] just won by 15% of the vote. He has a mandate from the people of North Carolina. It’s particularly galling that they would use Hurricane Helene as a smokescreen to do all this, particularly when they really didn’t do anything that significantly helps western North Carolina with this legislation.”

“It pains me that the legislature … engage in this political spite and gamesmanship. It’s not the leadership we need in North Carolina today,” Stein said.