President Biden plans to visit Florida on Saturday
“I’m here to make clear that our nation has your back,” President Biden said.
WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - President Joe Biden plans to visit Florida and the Southeast as Hurricane Idalia recovery efforts continue.
“To the people of Florida and throughout the southeast, I’m here to make clear that our nation has your back,” President Joe Biden said. “We are not going to, we’re not going to walk away. We’re not going to give up. We’re not going to slow down.”
The Category 4 hurricane blew through Florida, Georgia and South Carolina on Wednesday. The storm made landfall with 130 mile per hour winds that caused an estimated $12-$20 billion in damages. For comparison, Hurricane Ian caused nearly $113 billion in damages in 2022.
Biden has kept in constant communication with leaders on the ground. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said preparation has helped keep recovery efforts on track.
“In the state of Florida, we did you know, we fund disasters ahead of time,” DeSantis said. “So we have a fund that we created since I’ve been governor to be able to do this because you know, you hope you don’t have them but the reality is, I mean, these things just just happen so they just did a big budget deal and did not include that and include a lot of money for a lot of other stuff.”
Considering this hurricane and the Maui wildfires, Biden urges congress to pass the Disaster Relief Fund. Congressional Republicans are hesitant to sign off on the twelve-billion-dollar bill because it’s paired with security aid for Ukraine.
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