President Biden on Friday joked that Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm is his “boss” and referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as the “president” while he delivered an update on hurricane recovery efforts from the White House.
Seated in the Roosevelt Room with members of his Cabinet, including the secretary and the vice president, who joined by teleconference, Biden said the priorities for his administration are power restoration and debris removal.
“Our heart goes out to all those folks who’ve lost not only personal property, but their homes and some lost lives and grieving after the aftermath of the tornadoes, brutal wind, record downpours and historic flooding,” Biden said.
The president informed reporters that he has spoken with dozens of officials from North Carolina, Florida and other states impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton in the last two weeks. According to Biden, experts have estimated that Milton caused $50 billion in damage alone.
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“We’re going to do everything we can to help you pick back up the pieces and get back to where you were,” he said.
North Carolina authorities on Friday confirmed at least 92 storm-related fatalities from Hurricane Helene, but were unable to provide the number of those who remain missing or unaccounted for. Florida officials confirmed at least eight people are dead after Hurricane Milton spawned at least four tornadoes which wreaked havoc in St. Lucie County, The Associated Press reported.
More than 3 million people remain without power in Florida and an untold number of homes are damaged from flooding, heavy wind and fallen trees. Even so, 50,000 power line workers pre-staged by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have already restored power to 1 million customers.
President Biden reiterated that the federal government is fully involved in rescue and recovery efforts, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the U.S. Coast Guard, the Army Corps and the Florida National Guard. He also criticized “disgusting” claims spread online that suggest the federal hurricane response has been inadequate.
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The 81-year-old president appeared to trail off toward the conclusion of his remarks. At that point, Granholm interrupted by touching Biden on the arm, apparently to remind him to turn over the microphone to the vice president.
“I know,” Biden said. “I’m going to go to the vice president in a second.”
Then, with a glance toward the reporters in the room, he grabbed the secretary’s hand and joked, “She’s my boss here.”
Harris then seemed to interject, and Biden replied, “Hang on a second, Madame Vice President.”
Before turning the news conference over to Harris, Biden said his administration will request additional funds from Congress for recovery efforts.
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“We’re going to need a lot of help. We need a lot more money,” he said. “So I’m just telling everybody now that I don’t want to hear this is going to be the end of it. So with that, I will yield to the president, I mean, the vice president,” he said.
Harris has clashed with DeSantis in recent days after the Republican governor declined to take her call regarding the hurricane response. He said Thursday that the vice president has “no role” in the process and added that she had never attempted to call him during previous storms in Florida.
“I am working with the president of the United States. I’m working with the director of FEMA. We’ve been doing this now nonstop for over two weeks,” DeSantis said Thursday.
Speaking from a TV screen, Harris made an effort to show that she is involved in cabinet discussions about recovery efforts, noting that she has spoken with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas about cracking down on purported price-gouging in the wake of the disaster.
“We continue to coordinate resources with local and state authorities, including food, water, medical supplies and generators, and we will continue to work with the teams on the ground to restore water and power as quickly as possible in the coming days and weeks,” Harris said.
“President Biden and I will make sure that the communities that are there on the ground and have been affected will have the resources they need not only to respond to the storm, but also to recover. And we will continue to keep communities in Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina and across the Southeast ensured that they will recover from Hurricane Helene.”
“The bottom line is we are in this for the long haul,” she said.
Fox News Digital’s Bradford Betz and Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.
