{"id":154497,"date":"2023-01-20T07:26:28","date_gmt":"2023-01-20T15:26:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=154497"},"modified":"2023-01-20T07:26:28","modified_gmt":"2023-01-20T15:26:28","slug":"president-biden-on-california-storms-disaster-recovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=154497","title":{"rendered":"President Biden on California Storms Disaster Recovery"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Aptos, CA&#8230;Well, Governor, you and I have got to stop taking these helicopter rides.  We\u2019ve made a bunch of them.  You\u2019ve been hit \u2014 if anybody doubts that climate is changing, then they must have been asleep for the last couple of years. I want to thank you, Governor.  You and I, along with the Vice President, have been in close touch since this storm hit and even before it hit, when we were talking about it coming. <\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6B-W-lsWQok\" title=\"President Biden Delivers Remarks on California Storms Disaster Recovery\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>We \u2014 we told the governor that we\u2019d do everything we can, whatever he needs.  But he\u2019s been through a whole hell of a lot. <\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t know what we had \u2014 three or four flights up and down the state for the wildfires and the damage done.  And it\u2019s been astounding what you\u2019ve done. <\/p>\n<p>And I want to say what I said then, and I\u2019ll say again: The federal government is not leaving its responsibility until it\u2019s all fixed, it\u2019s done.<\/p>\n<p>You know, Mr. Mayor \u2014 or, Madam Mayor, I want to thank you and the county supervisors and local officials, the first responders for all that you have done and all you have been dealing with to try to protect your constituents in a way that gives them some \u2014 I guess, maybe the thing that is most needed in these times is a sense of \u2014 of hope that everything is going to be able to get done, everything is going to be able to get fixed.<\/p>\n<p>And I want to thank the entire California delegation for working with my administration.  Alex and Jimmy, thank you for what you\u2019ve done, being with me today.<\/p>\n<p>And, you know, we did an aerial tour of the damage.  And unlike when we did the aerial tour of the fires, it\u2019s not as obvious from the air just how much damage has been done.  You get \u2014 we flew over the entire area, and parts of the state \u2014 the entire \u2014 you know, they got more rainfall in a single day than they get in an entire year in parts of the state.<\/p>\n<p>Drenching rains, powerful winds, floods, landslides, but you don\u2019t feel it until you walk the streets or what \u2014 when you\u2019re able to walk.  And, you know, as \u2014 you know, toppling thousands of trees. <\/p>\n<p>Twenty thousand customers \u2014 two hundred thousand customers lost their power through the storms.  Now it\u2019s less than 5,000, but it\u2019s still 5,000 people who don\u2019t have power.  We got to get it down to zero.<\/p>\n<p>Nearly 150,000 people were under evacuation orders.  Now it\u2019s down to 1,400 who are under evacuation orders.  And under 300 people are still in shelters.<\/p>\n<p>But, tragically, 21 people died.  And that little boy, we\u2019re still trying to find.  Everybody I\u2019ve talked to so far today just spontaneously brings that up. <\/p>\n<p>You know, the fact is \u2014 you know, Jill and I have him in our prayers, the family in our prayers, and all of you.<\/p>\n<p>You know, while the situation is still treacherous, we\u2019re cautiously optimistic that the worst part is behind.  The waters recede, but we\u2019ll see the full extent of the damage to the homes, the businesses, and to farms and ranches.<\/p>\n<p>And we now \u2014 we know some of the destruction is going to take years to fully recover and rebuild.  But we got to re- \u2014 just not rebuild, we got to rebuild better.  We got to rebuild better. <\/p>\n<p>Last week, I signed an expedited major disaster declaration for the state of California.<\/p>\n<p>Yesterday, I directed the federal government that we\u2019ll cover 100 percent of the cost of removing debris and emergency measures like sheltering evacuees and paying overtime for first responders for the next 60 days.  (Coughs.)  Excuse me.  For 60 days. <\/p>\n<p>And right now, more than 500 employees of FEMA are out here \u2014 and other federal agencies \u2014 on the ground trying to help people.  FEMA positioned supplies for 100,000 meals, 100,000 liters of water, 20,000 blankets, 10,000 cots for shelters. <\/p>\n<p>And will be disaster recovery centers in every impacted area, including in Santa Cruz and Merced, where survivors can apply for assistance and if their homes or their small businesses have been damaged.  That\u2019s already underway. <\/p>\n<p>The Army Corps of Engineers is helping to remove heavy debris and \u2014 safely and monitoring seven reservoirs in the Central Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve instructed my administration to bring every element \u2014 every element of the federal government together with the help of immediate needs to long-term rebuilding, to do both.<\/p>\n<p>We have to \u2014 in terms of the infrastructure, there\u2019s got to be significant changes being made.  And the federal government is going to be here to help get that done.<\/p>\n<p>For example, the Department of Agriculture is helping farmers with disaster loans and grants if they lost livestock or their crops were washed away.<\/p>\n<p>The Small Business Administration \u2014 and some of you were with me when I just went through the small businesses along the piers here; it\u2019s devastating what happened, but they\u2019re going to get help \u2014 help local businesses with low-interest loans so they can recover.<\/p>\n<p>And now, if you have \u2014 if you don\u2019t have insurance or if you\u2019re underinsured, FEMA is going to get you started on home repairs and replacing lost or damaged property like cars or refrigerators, things inside the home that\u2019ll be able to be replaced quickly. <\/p>\n<p>To apply for assistance from FEMA, you can go online to DisasterAssistance.gov.  DisasterAssistance.gov.<\/p>\n<p>You can also sign up in person for disaster recovery centers in the coming days.  There are going to be at least seven centers opened across this state, and FEMA is going to deploy disaster Survivor Assistance Teams to communities that need them the most.  We can go to the FEMA website to find that location.<\/p>\n<p>And, look, as I\u2019ve said on other disasters, the key is not just building back, it\u2019s building back stronger.<\/p>\n<p>Just because \u2014 since I became President, we\u2019ve spent $9 billion in disaster assistance to California for the extreme weather events they\u2019ve had to go through.  Nine billion. <\/p>\n<p>And these weeks have shown the compounding effect of the disasters.<\/p>\n<p>For example, places that were ravaged by past wildfires are now at a higher risk of landslides.  Extreme weather caused by climate change means stronger and more frequent storms, more intense droughts, longer wildfire seasons \u2014 all of which threaten communities across California.<\/p>\n<p>So we have to invest in stronger infrastructure to lessen the impact to these disasters, because they become cumulative, in a sense.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve already allocated funding from the Infrastructure Law that I signed a year ago and more than $16 billion for more than 480 projects across this state.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re making the palif- \u2014 the California power grid more resilient, building stronger levees, clearing hazardous fuels, and reforesting lands, protecting \u2014 to protect against wildfires.<\/p>\n<p>And together, we can better prepare for future disasters, reduce the damage they cause, and [protect] the people\u2019s lives and the livelihoods that are affected.<\/p>\n<p>So let me close with this.  To the people in California, I say it again: The country is here for you and with you.  We are not leaving until things are built back and built back better than they were before.  You can recover from storms.  We\u2019ll be with you every step of the way \u2014 and I mean that sincerely \u2014 every step.<\/p>\n<p>May God bless you all.  And may God protect our first responders who we owe more than I can take time to talk about today.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>Q    Mr. President, may I ask you a question about the classified documents, sir?  Do you have any regret \u2014 regret, sir?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  You know, the only \u2014 I will answer the question, but here\u2019s the deal: You know, what quite frankly bugs me is that we have a serious problem here we\u2019re talking about.  We\u2019re talking about what\u2019s going on.  And the American people don\u2019t quite understand why you don\u2019t ask me questions about that.<\/p>\n<p>But having said that, what\u2019s your question?<\/p>\n<p>Q    Do you have any regret, sir, that you did not reveal the existence of the documents back in November, before the midterms?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Just hang on, okay? <\/p>\n<p>Look, as we found \u2014 we found a handful of documents that were failed \u2014 were filed in the wrong place.  We immediately turned them over to the Archives and the Justice Department.  We\u2019re fully cooperating and looking forward to getting this resolved quickly.<\/p>\n<p>I think you\u2019re going to find there\u2019s nothing there.  I have no regrets.  I\u2019m following what the lawyers have told me they want me to do.  It\u2019s exactly what we\u2019re doing.  There is no there there. <\/p>\n<p>Thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Aptos, CA&#8230;Well, Governor, you and I have got to stop taking these helicopter rides. We\u2019ve made a bunch of them. You\u2019ve been hit \u2014 if anybody doubts that climate is changing, then they must have been asleep for the last couple of years. I want to thank you, Governor. You and I, along with the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":154498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,5,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-154497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-government","category-news","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/40-President-Biden-Delivers-Remarks-on-California-Storms-Disaster-Recovery-YouTube-Google-Chrome-1202023-71700-AM.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=154497"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":154499,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154497\/revisions\/154499"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/154498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=154497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=154497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=154497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}