ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Joe Biden on Sunday saw firsthand some of the devastation that Hurricane Milton inflicted on Florida’s Gulf Coast, including piles of water-logged debris outside almost every home in a beach community and the torn-up roof of Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team. Vice President Kamala Harris was spending a second day in North Carolina, parts of which were hard-hit by Hurricane Helene, to worship with Black churchgoers and hold a campaign rally.
After an aerial tour and a briefing, Biden said he was thankful the damage from Milton was not as severe as officials had anticipated. But he said it was still a “cataclysmic” event for the people in the storm’s path, and that many lost irreplaceable personal items when their homes were flooded. The president praised the first responders who came from as far as Canada.
“It’s in moments like this we come together to take care of each other, not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans,” Biden said after he was briefed by federal, state and local officials, and met with residents and some of the responders. “We are one United States, one United States.
Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, opened her second day in North Carolina by speaking at Koinonia Christian Center in Greenville. The appearance was part of her campaign’s “Souls to the Polls” effort to help turn out Black churchgoers before the Nov. 5 election.
She was also holding a rally later Sunday to talk about her economic plans and highlight Thursday’s start of early voting in the state, her campaign said.
Harris spoke at the church about the hurricanes, alluding to the misinformation that some are spreading about the federal government’s response that she and others in the government have said is hurting people who need help the most.
“Now is not the time to incite fear,” Harris said. “It is not right to make people feel alone.”
For Bide, it was his second trip to Florida in two weeks. He traveled to the state’s Big Bend region on Oct. 3 to survey damage after Hurricane Helene ripped through the area.
Biden arrived in Tampa on Sunday and saw Tropicana Field from his helicopter as he flew to St. Pete Beach. Piles of debris, tattered billboards, toppled fences, fallen trees and closed gas stations were seen later as his motorcade drove along a highway. It passed through a neighborhood where almost every home had water damage and heaps of belongings were on the curb.
The visit gave Biden another chance to press House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., for congressional approval of more aid money before the Nov. 5 election. Johnson said Sunday that lawmakers will deal with the issue after the election because of the amount of time it takes to come up with an estimate. He said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that his “guesstimate” is that $100 billion will be needed.
“We’ll provide the additional resources,” Johnson said.
In Florida, Biden announced $612 million for six Department of Energy projects in areas affected by the hurricanes to improve the resilience of the region’s electric grid. The funding includes $94 million for two projects in Florida: $47 million for Gainesville Regional Utilities and $47 million for Switched Source to partner with Florida Power and Light.
With less than four weeks to go before the election, the hurricanes have added another dimension to the closely contested presidential race.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has said the Biden administration’s storm response had been lacking, particularly in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene. Biden and Harris have hammered Trump for promoting falsehoods about the federal response.
Trump made a series of false claims after Helene struck in late September, including incorrectly saying that the federal government is intentionally withholding aid to Republican disaster victims. He also falsely claimed the Federal Emergency Management Agency had run out of money because all of it had gone to programs for immigrants in the country illegally.
Biden said Trump was “not singularly” to blame for the spread of false claims in recent weeks but that he has the “biggest mouth.”
The president is pressing for swift action by Congress to make sure the Small Business Administration and FEMA have the money they need to get through hurricane season, which ends Nov. 30 in the Atlantic. He said Friday that Milton alone had caused an estimated $50 billion in damages.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said last week that FEMA will be able to meet “immediate needs” caused by the two storms. But he warned in the aftermath of Helene that the agency does not have enough funding to make it through the hurricane season.
Also percolating in the background are tensions between Harris and Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla. As Helene barreled toward Florida, the two traded accusations that the other was trying to politicize the federal storm response.
Harris’ office last week suggested that DeSantis was dodging her phone calls. DeSantis responded that he was unaware she had called and he grumbled that she hadn’t been involved in the federal government’s response before she became the Democratic nominee.
Biden said he had hoped to see DeSantis on Sunday, if the governor’s schedule permitted. DeSantis was not among the officials who greeted Biden in Tampa or joined his briefing in St. Pete Beach.
Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida as a Category 3 storm on Wednesday evening. At least 10 people were killed and hundreds of thousands of residents remain without power.
Officials say the toll could have been worse if not for widespread evacuations. The still-fresh devastation wrought by Helene just two weeks earlier probably helped compel many people to flee.
Boak reported from Greenville, North Carolina.
