‘Playing politics’: Gov. DeSantis says Joe Biden administration would rather fund Ukraine than hurricane relief

Florida’s Governor is relating the state’s funding needs in the wake of Hurricane Debby to the larger national context, saying the Joe Biden administration would rather pay for foreign policy adventurism than compensate subsidiary governments.

“They’re playing politics,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said during a press availability in Steinhatchee.

“Some people don’t want to do money to help victims of natural disaster in our own country because they want more money for things like Ukraine and things halfway around the world. And I think they need to stop playing politics with it and just get it done.”

The Governor said “they need money in this disaster fund that they have and it’s not there,” referring to the Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster fund that Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas said was depleted, per The Associated Press.

“As the impacts of climate change have been more and more evident, we have seen and experienced increasing frequency and gravity of extreme weather events. … We expect the disaster relief fund, which is the critical fund that we use to resource impacted communities, we expect it will run out by mid-August. And we need Congress to fund the disaster relief fund,” Mayorkas said in June.

In further comments Tuesday, DeSantis said Florida is “way more proactive than any other state,” working to “fill gaps when the federal government drags its feet on stuff … because the federal bureaucracy can take a long time to be able to do so.”

“We’re doing more than any other state ever has,” DeSantis said, noting that “needs” still exist from 2023’s Hurricane Idalia, which followed a similar path to Debby up the West Coast of Florida and into the Big Bend.

“Those need to be met and we want to work with Congress to make sure that they do,” DeSantis said.

That bipartisan congressional push is already underway.

U.S. Reps. Kat Cammack, a Gainesville Republican, and Jared Moskowitz, a Parkland Democrat, led a letter to the President urging activation of a higher public assistance level, Category A, to ensure reimbursement for debris removal.

“Hurricane Debby continues to bring severe weather conditions, including high winds, heavy rainfall, and flooding, posing a significant threat to public safety and infrastructure,” the letter from Monday said.

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio co-signed the letter, along with 24 House members. Republican U.S. Reps. Aaron Bean; Gus Bilirakis; Vern Buchanan; Mario Díaz-Balart; Byron Donalds; Neal Dunn; Scott Franklin; Matt Gaetz; Carlos Giménez; Anna Paulina Luna; Brian Mast; Cory Mills; Bill Posey; John Rutherford; Greg Steube; Michael Waltz; and Daniel Webster signed on. So too did Democratic U.S. Reps. Kathy Castor; Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick; Lois Frankel; Maxwell Frost; Darren Soto; Debbie Wasserman Schultz; and Frederica Wilson.

Biden declared an emergency in Florida on Sunday before the storm made landfall, following up a request from the Governor.

Ahead of the storm reaching Florida, U.S. Sens. Rubio and Rick Scott sent a letter supporting an emergency declaration for 61 of Florida’s 67 counties, something requested by DeSantis.

___

Jacob Ogles of Florida Politics contributed to this report.