Biden to Meet With DeSantis on Trip to Survey Hurricane Damage in Florida

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/04/us/politics/biden-desantis-florida-hurricane.html

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WASHINGTON — President Biden will receive a briefing on Hurricane Ian from Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida on Wednesday, as the president travels to the southwest coast of the state just days after communities there were hammered by the deadly Category 4 storm.

White House officials said the president would visit Fort Myers, where the hurricane flattened large swaths of homes and businesses and left tens of thousands without electricity or water.

Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said the president would also talk with homeowners and small business owners who had been affected by the storm and thank the emergency medical workers who labored for several days to rescue people.

“He’s going to be listening to the people who live there, who have lost so much,” she said.

The president would not, she said, engage in a new round of his political fight with Mr. DeSantis, a Republican.

“There will be plenty of time to discuss differences between the president and the governor. But now is not the time,” she added. “As you’ve heard from the president, he has said when it comes to delivering and making sure that the people of Florida have what they need, especially after Hurricane Ian, we are one. We are working as one.”

Mr. DeSantis, who is considering a bid for the White House in 2024, has for months been highly critical of Mr. Biden. Last month, he arranged for flights to take migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, a political stunt aimed at highlighting what the governor says is a failed Biden administration border policy.

Mr. Biden has had tough words for Mr. DeSantis as well, calling the migrant flights “simply wrong,” “un-American” and “reckless.”

But both leaders appear to recognize the dangers of appearing to allow political differences to get in the way of delivering lifesaving aid at a time when people are suffering. The two men have spoken by phone several times over the past week, and Mr. DeSantis has praised the speed with which Mr. Biden has approved the state’s requests for federal assistance.

Ms. Jean-Pierre did not provide many details about Wednesday’s trip to Florida. It remains unclear whether the president will deliver remarks to reporters the way he did during a visit Monday to Puerto Rico, which was hit by Hurricane Fiona last month and is struggling to recover.

She said that it was unclear whether Mr. DeSantis would join the president during other parts of the visit other than the briefing.

“We know that the governor has a busy schedule as he is dealing with the aftermath of a catastrophic storm,” she said. “So I can’t speak specifically to where he’s going to be at every step of the day. We will have more to share and what the president and the first lady are going to be doing tomorrow.”