Touring Kentucky, Biden vows to do ‘whatever it takes’
WASHINGTON >> President Joe Biden flew to Kentucky on Wednesday to survey the damage wrought by a series of deadly tornadoes last weekend, reprising a role comforting disaster victims that has become a staple of his presidency and promising that the federal government would cover the full cost of emergency response efforts for the next month.
Biden walked the storms’ paths of destruction in a pair of communities in the southeastern corner of the state, past entire blocks of buildings leveled by the high winds. He hugged survivors and promised that his administration would partner in relief efforts until residents and business owners could fully rebuild, describing the devastation as “almost beyond belief.”
“I intend to do whatever it takes,” Biden said in brief remarks from an intersection in battered Dawson Springs, Kentucky, “as long as it takes, to support your state, your local leaders, as you recover and rebuild — because you will recover and you will rebuild.”
The president said he had amended a disaster declaration for Kentucky to have the federal government cover the entire cost of debris removal and overtime for law enforcement and emergency personnel for the next 30 days. He said federal officials were helping to provide electricity, searchand-rescue assistance and shelters for victims, along with mental health services
for those traumatized by the experience.
It was an all-too-familiar routine for Biden, who said on Wednesday that disasters related to extreme weather and climate change had inflicted $99 billion of damage on the United States this year. The president has made several similar trips to disaster areas since taking office in January. He has visited with victims of hurricanes and extreme storms on the Gulf Coast and in the New York area, and with victims of wildfires in the West.
In each case, Biden has tried to reassure residents that the federal government was working hard to speed recovery efforts, while comforting people who have suffered major losses.
At an on-site briefing, Biden told a group of government officials that the communities in Kentucky reminded him of his home state of Delaware, and that he was impressed by people working together in the face of tragedy, regardless of a political divide.
“There’s no red tornadoes,” Biden said. “There’s no blue tornadoes.”