It’s not every day that a member of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus sits down to meet with the Democratic commander in chief, but national crises have a way of creating strange bedfellows.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital she was not expecting a call late last week when her phone screen flashed with an unknown Washington, D.C.-based government number. When she answered, it was President Biden’s voice on the line.
"Well, I did not expect that. So I talked to him on the phone for about 10 minutes. First thing that he asked me was, what did I need for my constituents, and how did I fare with the storm. And then [we] moved forward into talking about the issues that we're having with FEMA," Luna said.
The first-term Republican, whose district was hit hard by Hurricane Milton last week, said she also met with Biden when he surveyed storm damage in Florida over the weekend.
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The pair met for an "extensive" discussion on a number of disaster aid reforms, Luna said.
It’s not uncommon to see political foes work together after a natural disaster, but the congresswoman’s praise for Biden is a stark contrast from her fierce criticism of his administration – which she herself noted to Fox News Digital – including spearheading efforts to hold members of his Cabinet in inherent contempt of Congress.
"I have obviously been very critical of President Biden in the past, but I will say that him stepping in and taking control of the situation to assist for the right reasons was very honestly kind of shocking for me," Luna said.
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"Obviously, you know, we're still going to be holding FEMA accountable... But as far as I am seeing, FEMA has been very helpful, and I've been in direct communication with them. And they're absolutely going to assist, because President Biden has told them to do so."
Asked about their in-person conversation, Luna said they talked about the situation in Georgia and North Carolina after Helene battered the American Southeast, as well as Florida’s recovery after both storms.
"The one thing that I really wanted to hammer home was obviously, you know, FEMA getting debris cleared and really not holding the cities accountable for not being able to move debris in time," Luna said. "So we sorted that out."
She also advocated for reforming the National Flood Insurance Program, which Luna said has been largely unchanged since its inception in the 1960s.
In both of their conversations, Luna said Biden agreed with her that FEMA’s $750 upfront payment to disaster survivors was inadequate.
"He said it was a ‘bunch of malarkey,’ which is 100% true, and that $750 was not enough," Luna said.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for further comment.
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Her measured response to federal relief efforts is notable, given the torrent of GOP-led criticism of the administration’s response efforts.
It’s worth noting that Biden also saw praise from the Republican governors of South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia after the storms.
On the federal level, Luna is among the bipartisan chorus of lawmakers calling for Congress to return for an early emergency session to deal with disaster relief – something Biden has also voiced.
But Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has signaled on multiple occasions that he’s unlikely to convene the House before their scheduled return the week after Election Day.
Johnson, who has criticized the Biden administration’s response, argued that the $20 billion that Congress freed up for FEMA last month would be enough to meet immediate needs, and that lawmakers could do little until a formal damage assessment and cost estimate was provided.
Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., whose district was among the hardest hit by Helene, echoed Johnson in an interview Friday.
"I believe that what we're seeing right now with the calls to come back into session to pass funds is more of a distraction from the administration for their inept reaction to getting folks here to help western North Carolina," Edwards said.
