Biden Admin Refuses Ron DeSantis’ Request For Emergency Funds For Victims Of Hurricane Ian

Democrat President Joe Biden’s administration has refused a request from Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for emergency funds to help rebuild homes destroyed by Hurricane Ian, forcing DeSantis to use state funding to provide the emergency relief.

“Unfortunately, we got word last week that FEMA had denied our request for funding our state-led housing initiatives, citing their quote ‘limited authority,’” DeSantis said during an announcement in Southwest Florida, the region directly hit by Hurricane Ian.

“We’re not just gonna sit there and take no for an answer. We’re gonna figure out what we can do,” he added. “We wanna cut through bureaucracy. We wanna bring relief to impacted Floridians, regardless of whether FEMA wants to be a part of that.”

According to a press release from DeSantis’ office, DeSantis is authorizing “up to $25 million in state funding to purchase building materials and up to $35.2 million in generous donations to the Florida Disaster Fund will be used to allow verified nonprofit organizations to conduct critical temporary repairs on homes damaged by Hurricane Ian.”

The Biden administration responded to DeSantis’ request in a December 2 letter, saying, “Due to the limited authorities FEMA has to approve and pay for this type of work, as well as our inability to confirm that authorizing this policy expansion would achieve the intended outcomes for disaster survivors, your request is denied.”

The news is reminiscent of President Biden’s decision to refuse to speak with DeSantis ahead of Hurricane Ian’s landfall. It was not until the night after the hurricane struck that it was revealed that DeSantis had finally heard from Biden, but that Biden still had not told DeSantis if the federal government would assist Florida in the damage it suffered from Hurricane Ian.

“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,” Fox News host Tucker Carlson said to DeSantis. “Given how politicized things are at the moment, are you confident you are going to get the federal support Florida needs?”

“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.”

The next day, Biden finally announced that his administration was willing to offer reimbursement to Florida for the first 30 days after the hurricane struck – half of what DeSantis had requested.