South Florida got an early taste of hurricane season, as Tropical Storm Alex dumped massive rains over the weekend.
Against that backdrop in Jacksonville on Monday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis expressed some concern that the Biden administration’s politics may hurt the Sunshine State if things really get hairy later this summer.
The Republican governor appeared with firefighters in Duval County to announce $10 million in funding for the state’s eight Urban Search and Rescue teams. During a press conference, he was asked about a federal response should Florida get walloped amid his “strained” relationship with the Biden administration.
“On the federal stuff, it is what it is,” said DeSantis, recalling how the Federal Emergency Management Agency rejected his request for help after tornadoes hit seniors-heavy parts of southwest Florida.
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He also noted that Democratic-run New York and California appear to get very quick turnarounds on their request for federal aid from President Joe Biden, often “months before we are.”
“That’s just the reality,” said DeSantis.
“I think there’s a lot of politics,” DeSantis added. “But I think that’s unfortunate. That is not the way you do disaster response. I mean, you’ve got to put all that to the side and you’ve got to be willing to step up.”
“Hopefully, that will happen,” he continued. “The proof will be in the pudding.
Then recalling how former President Donald Trump was very supportive of the state’s efforts to rehab the Panhandle after Hurricane Michael.
“Sometimes we have to rely on the federal government to help,” DeSantis observed.
“It was a little bit easier for me my first two years as governor to get the federal government to help us,” he quipped of when Trump was president. “But what are you going to do. That’s just kind of the way to cookie crumbles.”
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