WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will assessment the devastation inflicted on Florida’s Gulf Coast by Hurricane Milton on Sunday as he urges Congress to approve extra emergency catastrophe funding. Vice President Kamala Harris will spend her second day in North Carolina, hit arduous by Hurricane Helene, attending a black church and holding a marketing campaign rally.
Biden’s go to to the St. Petersburg space provides him one other likelihood to strain House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to approve more money help earlier than the Nov. 5 election. Johnson stated the matter shall be addressed after that date.
“I believe President Johnson will get the message that he must step up, significantly for small companies,” Biden advised reporters as he and Harris met with aides Friday to debate the federal response to Hurricanes Milton and Helene. Biden and Johnson have but to debate the problem immediately.
In Florida, Biden was anticipated to announce $612 million for six Energy Department tasks in hurricane-hit areas to enhance the resiliency of the area’s energy grid, the White House stated. The funding contains $94 million for 2 tasks in Florida: $47 million for Gainesville Regional Utilities and $47 million for Switched Source to accomplice with Florida Power and Light.
Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, I visited Raleigh on Saturday meet with Black non secular and elected leaders and assist volunteers bundle private care objects to ship to Helene victims within the western a part of the state.
He was spending Sunday in Greenville, intending to talk at a church service as a part of his “Souls to the Polls” marketing campaign’s effort to assist end up black churchgoers earlier than Election Day. He was additionally anticipated to carry a rally to speak about his financial plans and spotlight the beginning of early voting within the state on Thursday, his marketing campaign stated.
Harris and her operating mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, will spend subsequent week campaigning within the aggressive states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina, in line with a Harris marketing campaign official who was not approved to debate publicly particulars not but made public. and spoke on situation of anonymity.
Less than 4 weeks to go Election dayTHE hurricanes added another dimension to the hotly contested presidential race.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump stated the Biden administration’s storm response was missing, significantly in North Carolina Hurricane Helene. Biden and Harris hammered Trump for this promote falsehood From the federal response.
Trump made a collection of false claims after Helene’s strike in late September, together with the inaccurate declare that the federal authorities is intentionally withhold aid to the victims of the republican catastrophe. He additionally falsely claimed that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was wanting cash as a result of it had all gone to packages for unlawful immigrants within the nation.
Biden stated Trump is “not solely” chargeable for spreading false claims in current weeks, however that he has the “greatest phrase.”
The president is pushing for Congress to behave rapidly to ensure the Small Business Administration and FEMA have the cash they should get by means of the Atlantic hurricane season, which ends Nov. 30. He stated Friday that Milton alone brought on an estimated $50 billion in injury.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas stated final week that FEMA would be capable of meet the “instant wants” attributable to the 2 storms. But him warned following Helene that the company does not have sufficient funding to make it hurricane season.
But Johnson pushed again, saying the companies find the money for for now and that lawmakers will tackle the funding challenge throughout the lame-duck session after the election.
Tensions between Harris and Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., additionally seep into the background. As Helene rushed in the direction of Florida, the 2 accusations exchanged that the opposite was making an attempt to politicize the federal response to the storm.
Harris’ workplace final week instructed that DeSantis was avoiding her cellphone calls. DeSantis responded that he was unaware of her name and complained that she had not been concerned within the federal authorities’s response earlier than changing into the Democratic nominee.
Biden, for his half, stated he hopes to see DeSantis on Sunday, if the governor’s schedule permits.
“He was very cooperative,” Biden stated of DeSantis. He added: “We had a really, superb time.”
DeSantis stated Saturday he had no particulars on the president’s go to.
Biden was anticipated to survey the injury throughout an air tour between Tampa and St. Pete Beach, the place he shall be briefed on the storm by federal, state and native officers. It can even have an effect on residents and first responders.
Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida on Wednesday night as a Category 3 storm. At least 10 individuals have been killed and a whole bunch of 1000’s of residents stay with out electrical energy.
Officials say the toll might have been worse if not for widespread evacuations. The still-fresh devastation attributable to Helene simply two weeks earlier in all probability helped force many people to flee.
Boak reported from Raleigh, North Carolina.
