President Biden on Thursday proposed updating Ronald Reagan’s famously cynical view of the government – telling New York leaders that officials are “really” going to help the victims Hurricane Fiona in Puerto Rico,
“We are increasing federal resources for Puerto Rico,” Biden said at a briefing in Lower Manhattan.
“And we’ll do everything, everything we can to meet your immediate needs and we know they’re real and they’re important. And there we are. And I know, bad joke, ‘I’m from the federal government. and I am here to help.’ But we really are.”
New York Governor Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams attended the event at the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s office at One World Trade Center.
Biden said Thursday that he was ordering the federal government to reimburse 100% of Puerto Rico’s expenses for “debris removal, search and rescue, restoration of power and water, and shelter and food for a month” .
The president did not take questions from reporters during the FEMA stop and did not respond to shouted inquiries about whether he was planning to visit Puerto Rico.
The storm made landfall on Sunday as a category one hurricane And put the whole island out of power.
Biden sought to demonstrate a pragmatic approach to after a cyclone His predecessor Donald Trump has faced criticism for the pace of humanitarian and reconstruction efforts after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico in 2017, the more powerful Category Four hurricane.
Reagan made his famous announcement on the government at a press conference in 1986, addressing economic issues specifically for farmers – rather than emergency response efforts.
“I’ve always felt that the nine most terrifying words in the English language are: ‘I’m from the government, and I’m here to help,'” Reagan said, “There were many problems existing on the farm due to government-imposed restrictions and inflation, not to mention the government’s long history of conflicting and disorganized policies.”