Biden to tour storm-damaged Florida, meet with DeSantis By Reuters

By Trevor Hunnicutt

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden will journey to Florida on Wednesday and pledge help to assist the state recuperate from the Hurricane Ian throughout a go to that features a assembly with Governor Ron DeSantis, a doable rival within the 2024 presidential race.

The Democratic president and the Republican governor are at odds over scores of points, together with local weather change, which consultants blame for Florida’s more and more moist, windy and intense hurricanes.

Greater than 100 folks died and practically 400,000 properties and companies remained with out energy in Florida on Tuesday, 5 days after Hurricane Ian crashed throughout the state. On Monday, Biden visited Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory battered by Hurricane Fiona final month.

Biden will survey Florida’s badly broken Fort Myers by helicopter, earlier than assembly with residents and disaster-relief officers, in addition to DeSantis, in keeping with the White Home.

Biden has been in common communication with DeSantis throughout the disaster and the federal authorities picked up a major share of the preliminary catastrophe aid. Final week, Biden mentioned his relationship with DeSantis is “irrelevant” however “very positive.”

When Biden visited Florida in July after a condominium complicated collapsed and killed practically 100 folks, he mentioned, “we’re letting the nation know we are able to cooperate when it is actually vital,” as he and DeSantis sat shoulder to shoulder.

On local weather change, Biden has made decreasing carbon emissions a spotlight of his presidency, whereas DeSantis backed funding to harden Florida’s defenses towards flooding but additionally opposed some earlier disaster-relief help and pushed pension funds to not think about environmental influence after they make investments.

Earlier than Hurricane Ian hit, Biden had deliberate a rally within the political battleground state final week. Then, Democratic officers anticipated Biden to assault DeSantis’ strategy, which has included shunning COVID-19 lockdowns, mocking Biden’s age and skills, penalizing Walt Disney (NYSE:) World Resort for opposing state legal guidelines limiting dialogue of LGBTQ points in faculties and flying Venezuelan immigrants from Texas to Martha’s Winery.