President Biden called Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ® on Thursday about the major disaster declaration he signed for the state in response to Hurricane Idalia.
On the call, Biden also conveyed that he “ordered all available federal resources to help with the continued response to Tropical Storm Idalia,” according to the White House.
And, it added, “the president reiterated that the people of Florida have his full support as they recover from the storm.” The major disaster declaration allows for federal funding to be available to affected individuals in the counties of Citrus, Dixie, Hamilton, Lafayette, Levy, Suwannee and Taylor and for additional assistance to Florida in the form of grants for temporary housing and home repairs and low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses.
I agree. Let’s make the offer of aid optional per resident and label it something fun. Obama-bail-outs. Hilary-help. Biden-bucks. Let the conservatives decide if they want the help or if they want to put their money where their mouth is regarding “handouts”.
Not the worst idea. Could take a “help those who help themselves” approach. Lead a horse to water and all that.
The Biden-bonus, the Joe cash-flow, Biden-benevolence, Democratic-donation. There’s a lot of room for creativity there.
Jokes aside, even if you ignore the morality of the situation, doing this is good for Biden’s PR, especially if he wants to reach across the isle for people who have been wavering, or if he wants to convince fence-sitters that his side isn’t quite as bad as the other side, or that he isn’t only pandering to his “team”.