Biden said he will visit Florida on Sunday to survey the damage and meet with Gov. Ron DeSantis if the governor is available. He slammed Republicans, including former President Trump for continuing to spread falsehoods about relief and recovery efforts
President Joe Biden while providing an update on the recovery efforts surrounding both Hurricane Helene and Milton said those who spread misinformation will pay the price.
“You know, widowers, people in hospitals, people who are by themselves, and they don’t know, and they lose contact, and they get, and they just get scared to death, scared to death. And anyway, so I think it’s — I think those who have been spreading these lies to try to undermine the opposition are going to pay a price for it, Biden said.
Biden continued to criticize former President Donald Trump for his role in perpetuating falsehoods about the recovery efforts but said he was not singularly to blame, but said that he has the biggest mouth.
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Biden has called on Congress to return from recess in order to authorize additional FEMA funding (Image:Getty Images)
Biden met with Vice President Kamala Harris and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Friday to discuss the back-to-back storms that have devastated the southeastern United States over the past two weeks from Florida all the way up to Tennessee and North Carolina.
The White House announced on Friday that the president will be traveling to Florida on Sunday to survey the damage caused by Hurricane Milton, which made landfall in the west coast of the state late Wednesday evening. Biden said during his remarks that early estimates by experts put the damage caused by Milton at $50 billion.
Biden has called on Congress to return from recess in order to authorize additional FEMA funding to aid in the disaster relief and recovery efforts, but said he has not spoken with House Speaker Mike Johnson directly about the issue.
“I’ve spoken to Republicans who want to speak with Speaker Johnson, and I think Speaker Johnson is going to get the message that he’s got to step up, particularly for small businesses,” Biden said.
Secretary Mayorkas said that FEMA has enough funds to meet the immediate needs from the two storms but according to a letter Biden sent to lawmakers last week the agencys Small Business Administration disaster loan program is running low on funds.
The death toll from Milton has now reached 16 as of Friday and millions in the state of Florida remain without power as officials work to rescue those still trapped in the region and restore essential services.
Biden said he plans to meet with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Sunday as long as the governor is available. He on Friday that DeSantis has been very cooperative, in coordinating relief efforts.
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Biden has called on Congress to return from recess in order to authorize additional FEMA funding (Image:Getty Images)
The White House has repeatedly pushed back on the false claims made by Republican leaders about the federal governments handling of the relief efforts in regard to both Helene and Milton. Both Biden and Mayorkas said the misinformation being spread has hampered FEMAs ability to help people affected by the storms and has even resulted in meteorologists and first responders receiving threats.
Biden was asked if this kind of misinformation regarding natural disasters is part of a new normal for the country and responded saying “for some extreme people but I don’t think it’s what the country is about.”
“We’re breaking through with it. We’re breaking through with the truth,” he said, going on to say he was “proud” of Republican mayors and other state officials pushing back that such falsehoods have to stop and that Americans are coming together to help each other.
“But what bothers me the most is that is there’s a lot of people who get caught in these crises who are basically alone,” Biden said.