Joe Biden (right) meets with first responders.Photo: SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty
PresidentJoe Bidenand First Lady Dr.Jill Bidenflew to Florida on Thursday to visit with state officials, first responders andfamilies of the victimswho were in the Champlain Towers South condo in Surfside when it collapsed last week.
In a press briefing with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other state and local officials, President Biden, 78, said he was confident the federal government would cover the steep costs associated with the response to the pre-dawn building collapse on June 24.
“I think I have the power and will know shortly to be able to pick up 100 percent of the costs of the county and the state,” Biden told DeSantis in front of reporters. “I’m quite sure I can do that.”
Patting DeSantis on the hand, Biden also talked about how the tragedy transcended partisanship.
“You know what’s good about this? We’re letting the nation know we can cooperate,” he said, nodding toward the Republican governor. “When it’s really important … we come together. This is life and death.”
DeSantis echoed that, saying: “You recognize in each individual unit, there’s an amazing story, and lives have been shattered irrevocably as a result of this. We have families with kids missing. And we even have young newlyweds who hadn’t even been married a year who were in the tower when it collapsed.”
From left: Gov. Ron DeSantis, Joe Biden, Incident Commander Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty
Joe Biden and Jill Biden meet with first responders near the Surfside condo collapse.SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty
Later in the afternoon, Biden met with first responders, telling the group, “Most of the time people don’t really fully appreciate you till they need you,” according to a pool of traveling reporters with him.
“What you’re doing now is just hard as hell to deal with, even psychologically, to deal with,” he said. “And I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
The president went on to note that first responders elsewhere in the country also face challenges due to drought andhigh heat.
“Until we need you, no one fully appreciates what you do,” he said. “But I promise you — we know. We know. What you’re doing here is incredible, having to deal with the uncertainty, and worrying about the families.”
Joe Biden meets with Florida officials.SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty
Eighteen people have died with 145 still unaccounted for.
Though the nearly three-hour meeting was closed to press, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told reporters thatPresident Biden invoked his own experience with lossand became emotional when speaking to the families.
As CBS News Senior White House Correspondent Weijia Jiang noted in a tweet, Biden spoke specifically about the1972 car wreckthat killed his wife and college sweetheart, Neilia, and their 13-month-old daughter Naomi, just one month after he won his first Senate race.
According to a press pool report, Biden “delivered brief remarks from the center of the room, then went from table to table” to meet with families individually.
A massive search and rescue operation has been underway at the site in the days since the tragedy, though those efforts werehalted overnightdue to concerns that the remaining structure surrounding the area wasn’t stable.
“What we just need now is we need a little bit of luck,” DeSantis, 42, told reporters during Biden’s visit. “We need a little bit of prayers. And you know, we would like to be able to, you know, to see some miracles happen.”
source: people.com
