Former President Donald Trump said Monday he would like Congress to reconvene sooner to approve additional disaster relief spending for hurricane-hit areas in the Southeast.

“Yes, I would be for it,” the 78-year-old Republican candidate told reporters after touring the damage caused by Hurricane Helene near Asheville, North Carolina.

“This is a very unusual situation and I would be in favor of it,” affirmed the 45th President.

Congress is currently not scheduled to reconvene until Nov. 12, a week after Election Day, and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has resisted pressure to resign early, citing the absence concrete financing applications.

The Small Business Administration announced last week that it had exhausted funding for its disaster loan program but urged storm survivors to continue applying for aid.

“We know that rapid financial relief can help communities recover quickly and stabilize local economies,” Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman said Oct. 15.

“As we wait for Congress to provide much-needed funding, we strongly encourage eligible businesses and households to apply for SBA disaster loans,” Guzman added. “SBA will continue to assist homeowners, renters, businesses and nonprofits in processing their applications to ensure they receive rapid assistance once funds are replenished.”

In a statement to The Post on Monday, Johnson said, “There is no doubt that these devastating back-to-back storms have placed a strain on the SBA funding program.” But the Biden-Harris administration currently has the necessary disaster funding to address the immediate needs of Americans population in these hurricane-affected areas.

“Congress is monitoring this situation closely, and when members return in just a few weeks, the administration should have an accurate estimate of the actual dollar amount needed and there will be strong bipartisan support to provide the necessary funding,” the speaker added.

President Biden has also pushed for Congress to return to session early to restart disaster relief.

There were also calls to inject more money into the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), even as leadership claimed it had sufficient short-term resources to deal with the aftermath of Helene and Hurricane Milton.

During his visit on Monday, Trump also addressed the federal government’s response to Helene, which landed on September 26 and killed at least 225 people – including 95 in North Carolina.

“Many Americans in this region felt helpless and abandoned and abandoned by their government,” he said. “And yet, in North Carolina’s hour of desperation, the American people answered the call – far more than your federal government.”

North Carolina is one of seven swing states that will decide the 2024 election, and speculation is rife that rural voters affected by the storm may not vote for Trump on November 5.

“Voting is the least of it right now,” Trump said in response to a question about the impact on Election Day.

“The most amazing thing is that areas like this and others where it’s so difficult to vote… you know they set a record in voting,” the former president said, reflecting that “those are typically Trump- Territories are.”

Trump won 15 electoral votes in North Carolina in each of his last two runs for the White House. The Tar Heel State has supported a Democrat for president only twice since 1968 — Jimmy Carter in 1976 and Barack Obama in 2008.

The RealClearPolitics average of North Carolina polls puts Trump ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris by 0.5 percentage points.