ATLANTA – Patience has started to fray over stalled federal disaster assistance as state leaders begin to ramp up pressure more than four months after Hurricane Michael smashed into southwest Georgia.

“Our farmers are hurting. Our families are hurting. They are on the verge of economic disaster without some help,” Gov. Brian Kemp said to religious conservatives gathered for a Faith and Freedom Coalition of Georgia meeting held Tuesday.

“It will be a disastrous game-changer for our ag community in south and southwest Georgia if we don’t get help soon,” he said.

Kemp urged the group to push President Donald Trump and Congress to provide disaster funding – and soon.

Billions in federal aid for Georgia and other storm-ravaged states were ensnared in the standoff over a U.S.-Mexico border wall, only to be left out in the end. Georgia’s share was expected to be about $800 million.

Georgia’s U.S. senators, Johnny Isakson and David Perdue, have said they will return to Washington next week and introduce a standalone multi-state proposal that would provide $3 billion in agricultural disaster relief and other aid.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, who is a former Georgia governor and David Perdue’s cousin, told state lawmakers in a conference call this week that he expected the measure to move quickly.

“I’m hopeful but it’s never over till it’s over up here,” Perdue said, urging others to “continue to speak up loudly” about their concerns. “This isn’t a little boy who cried wolf. This is serious business and whether people can continue their livelihood.”

Frustration over the delayed disaster aid has been building for weeks. State lawmakers have proposed adding $18 million to a loan program for hard-hit farmers and $2 million for damaged rural hospitals, which is on top of the $470 million in total aid approved during a special session held last year.

The hurricane crossed over into Georgia last October as a Category 3 storm, devastating the heart of the state’s agricultural industry and leaving behind uncertainty in communities where the local economy often relies on farming.

“You just can’t over state it,” state Sen. Dean Burke, a Republican from Bainbridge, said to the agriculture secretary during the meeting. “It’s something on the mind of my constituents, that they are somewhat being forgotten.”

Perdue said he believed Trump – who visited Georgia after the hurricane – would back the aid.

“Many of these people in rural America voted for the president, I think, for that very reason, that they believed that he would not forget them, and I don’t think he has,” the agriculture secretary said, noting that it also takes congressional action. “I don’t know if it does any good to blame, but we just need to get it fixed quickly.”

Jill Nolin covers the Georgia Statehouse for The Valdosta Daily Times, CNHI’s newspapers and websites.