Array
One week after Hurricane Ian slammed into Florida, President Joe Biden is visiting the area Wednesday to assess recovery and talk to families.
Ian, one of the strongest hurricanes ever to hit the U.S., also is expected to be one of the costliest.
Biden has said his political disagreements with DeSantis are irrelevant to his administration’s response and has offered the governor “the fullest federal support.”
DeSantis has put aside his challenges to Biden on immigration and other issues to work closely with Washington.
DeSantis joined Biden on Wednesday to update the president and review hurricane recovery.
“We are working as one,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday.
The mutual admiration society of President Joe Biden and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis showed a few cracks Wednesday as the political rivals discussed how well they’ve worked together on recovery efforts from Hurricane Ian.
Sure, DeSantis praised the “team effort” between the administration and state and local officials. Yes, Biden said he’s been “in complete lockstep” with the Florida governor.
But DeSantis also seemed to take a dig at Biden’s aerial tour, before the briefing of storm-damaged areas.
“I was in Sanibel today,” DeSantis said near the start of his public remarks. “You can go over it in a helicopter and you see damage, but it does not do it justice until you are actually on the ground and you see concrete utility poles sawed off, right in half, massive power lines everywhere, massive amounts of debris.”
When it was Biden’s turn to speak, he said he’s sure that the damage looks a lot worse on the ground.
“But you can see a whole hell of a lot of the damage from the air,” Biden added.
– Maureen Groppe and Michael Collins
Gov. Ron DeSantis thanked President Joe Biden for traveling to Florida to survey the hurricane damage and praised the “good coordination” between his administration and the White House.
“We appreciate working together across various levels of government,” DeSantis said with Biden and other officials standing by his side.
DeSantis particularly praised the administration’s doubling from 30 days to 60 days the amount of time the federal government will pay for 100% of debris removal and other costs. For some communities, the governor said, the cost of debris removal would eclipse their entire budgets.
Biden said DeSantis probably will need to ask for an additional extension.
“Unless you clear the area,” Biden said, “there’s not much else you can do.”
Biden, who took an aerial tour of the hurricane damage and got a briefing on the recovery efforts, said he has instructed his administration to bring together “every element” of the federal government to help with immediate needs and long-term rebuilding.
“Today, we have one job and only one job, and that’s to make sure that people in Florida get everything that they need to fully, thoroughly recover,” he said.
After Biden finished his remarks, reporters asked how he thought DeSantis has handled the hurricane response.
“I think he’s done a good job,” Biden said. “We have very different political philosophies, but we’ve worked hand in glove.
