Biden to announce more than $600 million for grid resiliency during visit to assess damage from Hurricane Milton

() – President Joe Biden will make another trip to a hurricane-ravaged community with a visit this Sunday to Florida, where he will announce more than $500 million in power grid resiliency projects, the White House said, as more costly storms and frequent continue to pressure the federal government’s disaster relief funding.

Biden’s visit to St. Petersburg to assess damage from Hurricane Milton comes after other trips the president made earlier this month to that state, along with visits to Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. to tour areas devastated by Hurricane Helene.

This comes as the president and other leaders urged Congress to work to approve additional funding for disaster relief programs and small businesses, as hurricanes combined with other extreme weather events this year to quickly deplete relief funds. of the government.

The $612 million in funding Biden plans to announce, which comes at a time when nearly 1.5 million customers are experiencing power outages, includes $94 million for projects specifically in Florida, a U.S. official said. White House, with $47 million going to Gainesville Regional Utilities and $47 million to Switched Source to partner with Florida Power and Light.

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

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

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

Biden has been in frequent contact with Republican leaders, including the governors of Florida and Georgia and conservative members of Congress in the hurricane-affected areas of the Southeast, and praise is frequently exchanged between the state and local levels.

The president has especially praised efforts by state and local officials to discourage their constituents from spreading false rumors and misinformation, as leaders say they have sparked threats against relief workers on the ground and caused residents to avoid searching. the help they need.

“Strong conservative” Republicans in the affected areas, he said Friday, “are standing up and saying, ‘This has to stop.’”

But the appearance of bipartisanship took longer to translate to Vice President Kamala Harris, who has also been visiting disaster sites and communicating with state and local officials. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Harris accused each other of playing politics after it emerged that DeSantis ignored calls from Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate. In response, DeSantis noted that he has been in contact with Biden and that Harris, as vice president, has no role in the federal government’s response.

During his previous trip to Florida, the president met with Senator Rick Scott, a staunch conservative and close ally of former President Donald Trump, who has long been a political opponent of Biden; The two put politics aside to tour the storm-ravaged area of ​​Keaton Beach.

Biden did not meet with DeSantis during his Florida trip; Instead, the governor held a news conference four hours south of where the president made his tour.

Asked Friday if he planned to visit DeSantis during his latest trip, Biden responded, “If he’s available,” while calling the governor “very cooperative.”

“We get along very, very well,” Biden said.