Biden announces he will tour the devastation caused by Hurricane Idalia in Florida on Saturday – and attacks “deniers” who claim climate change is not to blame
- “I’m going to Florida on Saturday morning,” Biden said
- He visited FEMA headquarters to thank workers and bring them pizza for lunch
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President Joe Biden announced he would travel to Florida on Saturday morning to view the damage from Hurricane Idalia – and criticized those who said climate change had nothing to do with recent environmental disasters.
Biden made the announcement as he visited FEMA headquarters to thank employees for their work over the past few weeks — and bring them pizza.
“I’m leaving for Florida on Saturday morning,” he told reporters.
It is the second trip Biden has made to deal with a natural disaster in recent weeks. He traveled to Maui earlier this month to view the damage from the largest wildfire in American history.
President Biden said he will travel to Florida on Saturday morning
Biden has been criticized for appearing to be slow to respond to the situation. By contrast, Biden has been in constant contact with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell about Hurricane Idalia.
On Thursday, he made an unannounced trip to the Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters in Washington DC to thank employees.
In his remarks, the president also criticized climate change deniers who say the changing environment is not responsible for the recent wave of natural disasters.
“We don’t get into this as much, but over the last few years as climate change has really increased, you’re on it 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and it just seems to keep piling up,” Biden told staff .
He also noted, “There are still some people who are in denial about the question of whether climate change has anything to do with it.”
Idalia was a Category Three hurricane when it struck the Florida coast on Wednesday.
The president is likely to meet with Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is seeking the Republican Party’s presidential nomination, during his visit on Saturday.
Biden met DeSantis in Florida in October 2022 when he traveled there to view damage from Hurricane Ian.
“This morning I spoke again – it seems like we, there should be a direct connection between the two of us – Governor DeSantis and me. Biden said Thursday during his FEMA visit.
Biden also said he plans to ask Congress for more emergency funding.
The White House asked Congress on Thursday to pass a short-term funding resolution to keep the government running. The government will close if Congress does not pass funding measures by the end of September.
The president said a government shutdown would pose a “serious, serious problem” in terms of disaster relief.
“It would be a serious, serious problem.” “I hope there is more maturity to prevent that than some people think,” he noted.
Pickup trucks and debris lie strewn in a canal in Horseshoe Beach, Florida, after Hurricane Idalia
Biden’s administration argued for a short-term measure to keep things moving while both parties negotiated federal spending limits.
In that request, the White House called for $12 billion in additional disaster relief as Hurricane Idalia hit Florida and wildfires wreaked havoc on Maui.
FEMA’s emergency fund is nearly depleted due to dozens of storms and wildfires this year.
Criswell said Tuesday at the White House that FEMA is using its remaining disaster funds only “for critical response efforts in Idalia, the Maui fires and other extreme weather events.”
So far, two people have died in Florida and one in Georgia, while thousands of homes have been destroyed and 300,000 residents have suffered power outages.
Idalia has been downgraded to a tropical storm but is still causing chaos.
The National Hurricane Center has issued a storm surge warning for hundreds of miles of North Carolina’s coastline – from Onslow Bay to the Pungo River.