(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden said he is postponing a planned trip to Germany and Angola to focus on the response to Hurricane Milton, the second major storm in two weeks to impact the US southeast, as he sought to assure Americans the federal government was mobilizing resources to help those in its path.
“This could be the worst storm to hit Florida in over a century,” Biden said Tuesday at the White House as he detailed efforts to address the back-to-back hurricanes.
Biden’s decision to postpone his trip — coming less than a month before Election Day — highlights how the administration’s disaster response has become a flash point in the race for the White House between Republican former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Biden said he had directed his team to do everything they can to aid with the response, had spoken to leaders in the region including Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Jane Castor and the mayor of Tampa. He has also sent Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell to the state.
Asked about the threat of misinformation over the response to the storm, Biden said “those who do it do it to try to damage the administration,” and he called it “un-American.”
“People are scared to death,” the president said.
Trump has criticized the administration’s handling of Hurricane Helene’s aftermath, saying both Harris and Biden deserve “poor grades” and falsely suggesting Americans whose homes were destroyed were only being offered $750. The Republican presidential nominee has also said federal funds for disaster relief had been “stolen” to provide housing to undocumented migrants.
Victims of the storm can apply for significantly more relief, and Trump is conflating a separate migrant program authorized by Congress with emergency funding, which cannot be spent on other matters.
In an interview on ABC’s The View on Tuesday, Harris called misinformation about the storms and recovery efforts “profound” and “the height of irresponsibility and frankly callousness.”
Milton, a Category 4 storm barreling toward Florida, is expected to inflict wide damage and put lives at risk. Millions have begun to evacuate Florida’s coastline, including from the city of Tampa. It follows Helene, which struck the US last month, tearing a path through several states — including Florida and the 2024 battlegrounds of Georgia and North Carolina — and killing at least 227 people.
Overseas Priorities
The president said he still plans to visit Angola, but did not provide a timeframe, and said he would speak with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz later today.
Biden’s visit, which was slated for Oct. 10-15, would have been his first trip abroad since he withdrew from the presidential race in July and endorsed Harris. The stops highlighted two of his priorities, shoring up support among allies for Ukraine and expanding US economic and security links to Africa.
By postponing, Biden is also standing up world leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who were expected to meet him at Ramstein Air Force Base.
A German government spokesman said the White House had informed them of the cancellation. The German government is reassessing the situation with European allies and will decide at a later stage if the planned talks among allies about support for Ukraine should also be postponed, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke about the discussions on condition of anonymity.
The decision also threatens Biden’s ability to fulfill a pledge to visit Africa by the end of his term, a vow intended to showcase Washington’s renewed commitment to the continent. Biden has sought to counter claims that Africa has taken a backseat to other US priorities, seeking to revitalize ties with the continent and push back on growing Chinese and Russian influence there.
Trump as president in 2019 canceled a trip to Poland as Hurricane Dorian was poised to strike Florida — a state that is also home to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach — sending then-Vice President Mike Pence in his place.
Recovery Aid
Republican state and local officials from areas impacted by Helene have said the administration is working with them to respond to the devastating storm. Biden, Harris and Trump have all made trips to impacted states in recent days.
Biden has approved cost-sharing measures to speed up the recovery, deployed 1,500 troops to hard-hit western North Carolina and the administration has mobilized $137 million in aid to Helene survivors, “with more to come,” according to the White House. The president has asked Congress to speed up authorization of about $1.6 billion for the Small Business Administration to help rebuild.
Economic damage from Helene, including that covered by private insurance, could total as much as $250 billion, according to a projection from AccuWeather Inc., making it one of the costliest storms in history.
Milton likely will cause $60 billion to $75 billion in damage and losses, with some models showing the total could rise as high as $150 billion, Chuck Watson, a disaster modeler at Enki Research, said in an X post.
--With assistance from Michael Nienaber, Josh Wingrove and Jennifer Epstein.
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
