President Joe Biden on Wednesday pledged enduring support for Americans affected by Hurricane Idalia and the Hawaii wildfires while making clear he’s ready to blame congressional Republicans if there isn’t enough funding for the response to a confluence of natural disasters.
Biden was in full crisis management mode as the Category 3 hurricane bore down on Florida and other southern states, while on the other side of the nation Maui continued to recover from devastating wildfires.
Republicans have criticized how Biden and the federal government responded to the Hawaii fires, though officials in the state praised the support they received from the White House. The president underscored his willingness to continue providing support to both disaster sites – and said if Republicans hold up disaster assistance funding, he’d ensure the public knows who is responsible.
Speaking Tuesday, FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell said FEMA currently has $3.4 billion in its disaster relief fund and is now prioritizing its available funding for the looming Hurricane Idalia, the aftermath of wildfires in Maui and other extreme weather events to come. The White House sent a request for an additional $12 billion for disaster relief funding earlier this month, pairing it with requests for more security aid for Ukraine. Criswell called on Congress to pass that request to ensure emergency relief operations aren’t affected.
Biden told reporters during his White House event that if additional funding wasn’t approved, he would “point out why.”
“How can we not respond? My God. How can we not respond to these needs?” he said. “So I’m confident, even though there’s a lot of talk from some of our friends up on the Hill about the cost, we have to do it. This is the United States of America.”
Convening members of his Cabinet after speaking with…
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