Biden Blasts Climate 'Deniers,' Demands 'a Whole Hell of a Lot More Money' After Hurricane Idalia (August 31, 2023)

A day after Hurricane Idalia slammed into Florida, President Joe Biden went to FEMA’s headquarters and turned the disaster into a climate lecture and a funding pitch. “There’s still some deniers out there in terms of whether or not climate change has anything to do with any of this,” he said, “and we’re going to need a whole hell of a lot more money to deal with emergency appropriations.”

The video above shows those lines from Biden’s Aug. 31, 2023, remarks at the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Washington. Quotes are from the official transcript published by the American Presidency Project, which also records the White House’s corrections [1].

”There’s Still Some Deniers Out There”

Biden opened by thanking the FEMA staff standing behind him. “This last couple of years with climate change and—really kicking in, you guys are going 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. And it seems to just keep piling up,” he said [1].

Then, back at the podium, came the line in the clip: “Because we’re in a situation where, you know, we’re—how can I say it? There’s still some deniers out there in terms of whether or not climate change has anything to do with any of this, and we’re going to need a whole hell of a lot more money to deal with emergency appropriations, to deal with all you’re taking care of” [1].

He did not say who the deniers were. Later he took a shot at lawmakers resisting his disaster request: “Some of my colleagues—my former colleagues in the Senate and people I work with every day in the United States Senate think that this disaster relief money we’re asking to continue to finish the job … is somehow—I don’t know—not needed or—I’m not even sure what their thinking is” [1].

“But we need this money done. We need this disaster relief request met. And we need to do it in September. We can’t wait,” he said [1].

”Landfill” and “McMasters”

The official transcript needed a couple of fixes. Biden said FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell was in Florida assessing “that category 3 storm that made landfill [landfall; White House correction],” and he said he had spoken with “Governor McMasters [McMaster; White House correction]” of South Carolina [1].

He said he had spoken that morning with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and let him know he had approved the state’s major disaster declaration. “It seems like we should be on direct dial, the two of us, Governor DeSantis and I,” he said [1].

FEMA’s Money Squeeze

The money pitch had a backstory. The day before, Criswell told reporters at the White House that she had ordered what FEMA calls Immediate Needs Funding, which “prioritizes the remaining funding within the Disaster Relief Fund to support those lifesaving efforts.” Under it, she said, payments for longer-term recovery projects from earlier disasters would be “delayed into the next fiscal year” [2].

She said FEMA’s Critical Needs Assistance gave survivors $700 for immediate needs, while the main individual assistance program had a $41,000 cap that year [2].

Maui Hangs Over the Response

The Hawaii wildfires were never far from the conversation. “And those out on Maui, you know, you’ve—it’s just amazing. You’ve seen it. Some of you have been there. It’s just pure devastation, that whole part of the island just leveled. There’s nothing left,” Biden told the FEMA staff [1].

The day before, at the same White House briefing, Fox News’ Peter Doocy had asked press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre whether the administration realized “that the initial Hawaii wildfire response was not that good.” “So your question is, is wrong, is flawed in many, many ways,” she replied, Fox News reported [3].

Questions He Took, and One He Didn’t

Biden took a handful of questions before going to talk with the staff. Asked about Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, he said: “I spoke to Mitch. He’s a friend. And I spoke to him today. And you know, he was his old self on the telephone.” Asked whether he had concerns about McConnell’s ability to do his job, he said: “No” [1].

On fentanyl, he said he had asked Congress for “about $15 billion along the border” for technology to detect precursor drugs [1].

But when a reporter asked, “Will you give your bank records to Congress, as Speaker McCarthy requests?” Biden brushed it off to laughter: “Let’s talk about why I’m here” [1].

He ended with his travel plans: “I’m going to Florida Saturday morning” [1].

By the Numbers

3: Idalia’s category when it made landfall, by Biden’s description and Fox News’ report [1][3].
1,500: federal personnel and Coast Guard members Biden said were predeployed across the Southeast [1].
$700: FEMA’s Critical Needs Assistance payment for immediate needs [2].
$41,000: the cap that year on FEMA’s main individual assistance program [2].
About $15 billion: the border technology request Biden cited [1].

What Happened Next

DeSantis skipped the visit. Leaving the White House on Saturday, Sept. 2, Biden was asked what happened to his meeting with DeSantis. “I don’t know. He’s not going to be there,” he said, according to the press pool. Aboard Air Force One, Criswell told reporters the White House and DeSantis’ team had mutually agreed on the location earlier that week, and that DeSantis’ team did not give more detailed reasons for declining to show up [4].

In Live Oak, Florida, Biden said: “Well, no, I’m not disappointed. He may have had other reasons, because—and—but he did help us plan this.” He praised Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., who joined him, as “the distinguished former Governor and senior Senator” [4][5]. Asked why he had not yet gone to East Palestine, Ohio, after the February train derailment, Biden said: “I haven’t had the occasion to go to East Palestine” [5].

The money came through a stopgap. On Sept. 30, Congress passed a spending bill that kept the government open. Biden said it meant “long-term disaster recovery monies for communities devastated by wildfires, superstorms, and droughts” would continue [6].