Biden announces more than $600 million for electric grid resilience during visit to survey Hurricane Milton damage

By Nikki Carvajal and Michael Williams, CNN

St. Petersburg, Florida (CNN) — President Joe Biden made yet another trip to a community devastated by a hurricane with his Sunday visit to Florida, where he announced more than half a billion dollars in projects for electric grid resilience, as costlier and more frequent storms continue to strain the federal government’s disaster-relief funding.

“I’m here in Florida for the second time in two weeks to survey the damage from another catastrophic storm, Hurricane Milton,” Biden said after an aerial tour of the storm’s damage in St. Petersburg. “Thankfully, the storm’s impact was not as cataclysmic as we had predicted.”

But, he added, “for some individuals, it was cataclysmic.”

Biden empathized with Florida residents who had lost everything, describing them as “heartbroken and exhausted, and their expenses are piling up.”

He thanked local officials who were impacted personally by the storm, saying their work was a testament to “the resilience of the people of west Florida.”

His visit came as the president and other leaders have urged Congress to pass additional funding for disaster-relief and small-business programs as extreme weather events this year have rapidly drained the government’s aid funds.

House Speaker Mike Johnson reiterated Sunday that Congress will not return early to pass additional disaster-relief funding. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who oversees the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Sunday the agency has enough funding for “immediate” needs but stressed that Congress will need to act swiftly to sufficiently fund the agency when it returns after the election.

The $612 million in funding Biden announced Sunday, which comes as almost 1.5 million customers struggle with power outages, includes $94 million for projects specifically in Florida, a White House official said, with $47 million going to Gainesville Regional Utilities and $47 million for Switched Source to partner with Florida Power and Light.

“These investments are part of the President’s commitment to making long-term investments that protect, enhance, and upgrade our nation’s electric grid, especially in the face of extreme weather events,” the official said in a statement Saturday.

The funds will be disbursed through the Department of Energy’s Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships Program.

Biden’s visit to St. Petersburg to survey damage from Hurricane Milton came after separate trips the president made earlier this month to Florida, along with visits in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina to tour areas ravaged by Hurricane Helene.

While presidential visits to disaster areas are almost always nonpartisan affairs that serve to demonstrate federal and state governments transcending politics to work together, that effect is amplified now that Biden is no longer a candidate for president in the 2024 election.

Biden has frequently been in touch with Republican leaders, including the governors of Florida and Georgia and conservative members of Congress throughout Southeast areas hit by the hurricanes – and praise is frequently swapped between the state and local levels.

The president held the event Sunday alongside staunch Florida Republicans Sen. Rick Scott and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna. However, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis did not appear alongside the president.

Biden turned to bipartisanship when asked about DeSantis, admitting he hadn’t talked to the Florida governor Sunday but adding that “Republicans and Democrats are happy” with the federal response to the storm.

In moments like this, Biden said, “we come together to take care of each other, not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans. … We are one United States.”

The president has been especially complimentary toward state and local officials’ efforts to discourage their constituents from spreading false rumors and misinformation – as leaders say they have led to threats against relief workers on the ground and caused residents to avoid seeking the aid that they need. During this trip, Biden did not mention misinformation being spread by some of his critics after the hurricane.

“Conservative, hardcore” Republicans in impacted areas, he said on Friday, “are standing up and saying, ‘It’s got to stop.’”

But the veneer of bipartisanship has been slower to translate to Vice President Kamala Harris, who has also been touring disaster sites and in touch with state and local officials. DeSantis and Harris both accused each other of playing politics after reports that DeSantis ignored calls from Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee. In response, DeSantis pointed out that he’s been in touch with Biden and that Harris as vice president has no role in the federal government’s response.

This story and headline have been updated with additional developments.

CNN’s Sam Fossum contributed to this report.

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