North Carolina governor urges Trump to back $13.5B for Helene recovery in western North Carolina
By Elijah Skipper
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NORTH CAROLINA (WLOS) — North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein said Friday he spoke directly with President Donald Trump at the White House, urging him to support an additional $13.5 billion in federal funding to help western North Carolina recover from Hurricane Helene.
Stein’s face-to-face with Trump came one day after the National Governors Association pulled out of facilitating its annual White House meeting following Trump’s refusal to invite two Democratic governors, including Jared Polis and Wes Moore.
Despite the controversy, Stein attended Friday’s meeting with a bipartisan group of governors and said he used the opportunity to press federal leaders on Helene recovery.
“I just left the White House with a bipartisan group of governors,” Stein said in an interview. He said he met with cabinet officials from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Homeland Security and the Department of Transportation — agencies central to rebuilding efforts in Western North Carolina.
Stein said he thanked Trump for what he called renewed federal focus on debris removal, noting that more than 16 million cubic yards of storm debris have already been cleared.
“It’s just an incredible amount,” Stein said. “But once you’ve kind of cleaned the site, you now have to rebuild.”
The governor said he told Trump that thousands of homes, businesses and private roads across western North Carolina still need repairs.
“I said, North Carolina needs more help,” Stein said. “Honestly, Mr. President, we need another 13 and a half billion dollars.”
Stein said Trump assured him the administration would “take a hard look” at the request.
Hurricane Helene caused an estimated $60 billion in damage across western North Carolina, according to state officials. Stein said the scale of destruction far exceeds what residents or the state can cover alone.
“The people of Western North Carolina can’t afford that,” Stein said. “The state of North Carolina, even though there’s more we can do, we can’t afford all of it. That’s why we need our federal government partners.”
Stein said securing direct access to the president has been a priority as recovery continues nearly a year after the storm.
“Rome wasn’t built in a day, and western North Carolina is not going to recover in a day,” he said. “I’m going to keep pressing the case until we get the job done.” When asked whether Trump appeared receptive, Stein said the president’s previous visits to the region helped convey the severity of the disaster.
“President Trump has been to Western North Carolina at least twice since the storm,” Stein said. “He actually has laid eyes on it.”
Stein said Trump described the unique scale of damage to other governors in the room.
“He was explaining just how broad it was and how devastating it was because he’s seen it,” Stein said. “I think he now understands that there’s a lot more work to get done.”
The meeting unfolded amid broader tensions between the White House and state leaders, after the National Governors Association withdrew from organizing the event over Trump’s exclusion of Polis and Moore.
Still, Stein said Friday’s discussions remained focused on recovery needs, emphasizing that debris removal marks only the first phase of rebuilding.
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