View of a damaged property after the arrival of Hurricane Idalia in Horseshoe Beach, Florida, August 31, 2023.
Julio Cesar Chavez | Reuters
President Joe Biden standing in front of a house damaged by a fallen tree said it was “but for the grace of God” the damage wasn’t worse.
“No winds this strong hit this area in a single hundred years,” Biden said, speaking in Live Oak, Florida. “Pray God it can be one other hundred years before this happens again.”
Biden and first lady Jill Biden traveled to Florida on Saturday to survey the damage done by Hurricane Idalia and meet with locals and recovery personnel. The president said he’s directed the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to do “all the pieces they will” to assist rebuild.
Idalia hit Florida’s Big Bend region on Wednesday as a Category 3 storm, resulting in widespread power outages and flooding. The White House has called on Congress to offer $16 billion in stopgap funding to bolster FEMA’s disaster relief fund which the agency said will likely be exhausted in the primary half of September if it will not be replenished. Speaking Saturday in Florida, Biden once more called on Congress to act.
“These crises are affecting an increasing number of Americans, and each American recurrently expects FEMA to indicate up once they are needed,” Biden said. “I’m calling on america Congress — Democrats and Republicans — to make sure the funding is there.”
Biden initially said he would meet with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, whom he’s spoken to so incessantly within the wake of Idalia that the president joked Thursday, “There ought to be a direct dial.” In a press release Friday night, nevertheless, Jeremy Redfern, a spokesman for DeSantis, said the governor didn’t have plans to fulfill with the president, citing security difficulties.
“In these rural communities, and so soon after impact, the safety preparations alone that might go into organising such a gathering would shut down ongoing recovery efforts,” Redfern said.
Chatting with reporters en path to Florida, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said the White House and governor’s office mutually agreed on the situation for Biden’s visit earlier this week and said no security concerns were voiced at the moment or before the statement from DeSantis’s office was released.
DeSantis, who’s in search of the Republican nomination for president, has been a powerful critic of Biden, however the two have come together prior to now. Biden met with DeSantis after Hurricane Ian last yr.
Biden in his remarks noted he has been in “frequent touch” with DeSantis throughout the storm and its aftermath, adding “the governor was on top of it.”
