Biden: Climate is ‘everybody’s crisis’
Prez tours flood-ravaged areas of NJ, NY
NEW YORK — President Biden declared climate change has become “everybody’s crisis” on Tuesday as he toured neighborhoods flooded by the remnants of Hurricane Ida, warning it’s time for America to get serious about the “code red” danger or face ever worse loss of life and property.
Biden spoke after walking streets in New Jersey and then Queens in New York City, meeting people whose homes were destroyed or severely damaged by flooding when Ida barreled through. The storm dumped record amounts of rain onto already saturated ground and was blamed for more than a dozen deaths in the city.
The president said he thinks the damage everyone is seeing, from wildfires in the West to hurricane havoc in the South and Northeast, is turning climate-change skeptics into believers, but that years of unheeded warnings from scientists, economists and others mean time for action is short.
“The threat is here. It is not getting any better,” Biden said in New York. “The question is can it get worse. We can stop it from getting worse.”
Biden sounded a similar theme before he toured Manville, New Jersey, also ravaged by severe flooding caused by Ida.
“Every part of the country, every part of the country is getting hit by extreme weather,” Biden said during a briefing with officials in Somerset County, including Gov. Phil Murphy.
He said the threat from wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding and other extreme weather must be dealt with in ways that will lessen devastating effects of climate change.
“We can’t turn it back very much, but we can prevent it from getting worse,” he said. “We don’t have any more time.”
The natural disasters have given Biden an opening to push Congress to approve his plan to spend $1 trillion to fortify infrastructure nationwide, including electrical grids, water and sewer systems, to better defend against extreme weather. The legislation has cleared the Senate and awaits a House vote.
Biden also talked up a side benefit of the plan, the “good-paying jobs” he said it will create.
On Tuesday, the White House asked Congress for an additional $24 billion in disaster aid to cover the costs of Ida and other destructive weather events.
In New Jersey, Biden walked along a street in the Lost Valley neighborhood of Manville, where flooding is common and the cleanup continues after the Raritan River overflowed its banks. Many front lawns were covered with water-logged couches, broken pianos, crumbled plaster and other debris.
One home displayed a hand-painted sign that said, “Manville will be back better.”
Biden, wearing a mask, spoke to adults and children, including Meagan Dommar, a new mother whose home was destroyed by fire as the flood occurred. She told him that she and her husband, Caesar, had left with the baby before the flooding, then returned to find destruction.
“Thank God you’re safe,” Biden replied. She said afterward she hoped the visit would speed help “along a little bit” and that she was grateful for the visit.
Not everyone was so welcoming. As he walked the route, the Democratic president was taunted by supporters of Republican former President Donald Trump, who yelled that Biden was a “tyrant” and worse. Biden did not look in their direction.