An objection by a single U.S. senator on Thursday killed legislation to do so.

Senator Rand PaulR-Ky., objected Thursday to legislation that Senator Mark WarnerD-Va., co-sponsored with Senator Thom TillisRN.C., to quickly replenish the fund used for loans to small businesses to survive after the storm caused catastrophic damage in seven states, including Virginia, in late September.

Paul’s objection blocked the measure’s swift passage by unanimous Senate approval, running out time for people still trying to rebuild their businesses and lives.

“If we fail to do this soon, the communities of Southwest Virginia will see businesses close for good and face an even longer road to recovery,” Warner said in a statement later Thursday.

Governor Glenn Youngkinin a briefing at the State Emergency Operations Center Thursday afternoon, said he expects Virginia to present to President Joe Biden and Congress the economic damage estimate from Helene next week, so he is prepared to wait for them to act regarding funding for “a number of federal agencies.”

These federal agencies include the Small Business Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Department of Agriculture.

“I would expect them to do it all in one batch as opposed to sequencing them,” Youngkin said.

Tillis was in no mood to wait, with the city of Asheville still without public water and business owners struggling to pay their employees after a storm that killed at least 102 people in North Carolina alone and left “dozens of towns that are hanging on the threshold. .”

“We have people who are suffering,” he told the Senate. “We have businesses that are suffering. We have a disaster to which we must respond.”

Warner acknowledged that Helene hit western North Carolina the hardest, but also talked about the plight of Damascus, a town at the confluence of two rivers in Washington County, that the storm paralyzed.

“We’ve been to 10 jurisdictions in southwest Virginia, but in this little town, every business and home was affected,” he said. “One guy had three businesses: two restaurants and a bed and breakfast. He paid out of pocket to try to keep his workers, even though it will be months before anything happens.”

“We owe it to the people of Damascus and Southwest Virginia and North Carolina and all the hard-hit jurisdictions across our country to do our job,” he said.

With the crippled Congress facing a busy agenda to complete by Christmas, Biden is expected to propose a much larger package of additional disaster aid to help communities and their residents rebuild after the storm.

But the effort to bring money to the Small Business Administration is caught up in the political battle over federal spending priorities as former President Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House in January with promises to cut government funding for programs that he doesn’t like them.