Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) told Fox News Wednesday night that he has not heard back from President Joe Biden about whether the federal government will reimburse the state for the damage that it has suffered from Hurricane Ian.
DeSantis told Fox News host Tucker Carlson that he believes that the storm will go down as one of the worst flood events in the history of Florida and assessments still needed to be conducted to figure out the extent of the damage caused by the wind.
“When a natural disaster like this strikes a state it is common, I think it’s always the case that the state receives federal aid,” Carlson said. “Given how politicized things are at the moment, are you confident you are going to get the federal support Florida needs?”
DeSantis responded by indicating that he has not yet heard back from the administration.
“So, I actually spoke with the president and he said he wants to be helpful so we did submit a request for reimbursement for the next 60 days at 100%. That’s significant support, but it’s a significant storm,” DeSantis responded. “So, we haven’t heard back from him but I’m actually cautiously optimistic that we do.”
DeSantis called for everyone to “put politics aside” because people are fighting for their lives and there are many who are at risk of losing everything because of the hurricane.
.@GovRonDeSantis on @TuckerCarlson providing an update on Hurricane Ian. pic.twitter.com/hC0ieqbbpG
— Jeremy Redfern (@JeremyRedfernFL) September 29, 2022
The hurricane slammed into the southwest portion of the state as a powerful Category 4 hurricane Wednesday afternoon, knocking out the power for well over 1 million Floridians. With winds initially reaching up to 155 mph upon landfall, Hurricane Ian is tied for the 4th strongest hurricane to ever hit the state.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked during Wednesday’s press briefing if there were “any requests from the governor for additional federal assistance or disaster declarations?”
Jean-Pierre did not answer the question that was asked and instead just said that the administration wanted the people to know that “Florida will have the full force of the federal government.”
She later claimed “there’s no politics in this,” despite the fact that Biden did not reach out to DeSantis until he faced backlash in the media after it was revealed that he called several Florida mayors but had not bothered to call the governor.
“This is about the people of Florida,” she claimed. “This is about two people who — who wanted to have a conversation on how — how we can be partners to the governor and — and his constituents, and make sure that we are delivering for the people of Florida.”