With just days left in his administration, Joe Biden is showing America he has priorities.
The wrong priorities, sure — but priorities nonetheless.
Take the victims of the Southern California wildfires. Sure, a lot needs to be done in the area that’s been leveled by epochal blazes where the damage has been exacerbated by desperately unready public officials.
On Thursday, Biden promised to pay for 100 percent of the disaster over the next six months during a briefing from Washington.
“I told the governor and local officials, spare no expense to do what they need to do and contain these fires,” he said during remarks at the White House, calling the fires “devastating” and “catastrophic.”
“We’re doing literally everything we can at a federal level,” he added.
“The 100% disaster response coverage from the federal government for the next 180 days is an increase from the current 75% the president previously allotted, and more than the 90% Mr. Biden said California Gov. Gavin Newsom requested,” CBS News reported.
“The damage is expected to be one of the most expensive disasters in California history. Three fires are still raging, the president said, and 179,000 people have been forced to evacuate their homes.”
Now, it’s perfectly reasonable for the White House to cover this damage — so long as they’re taking care of other priorities along with those who live in the wealthy Hollywood-centric coastal enclaves in Southern California (residents of which tend to not only vote but donate heavily to the Democratic Party) which have taken the brunt of the wildfires thus far.
Because we’re talking about this, though, of course they haven’t.
According to WBTV-TV in Charlotte, North Carolina, 3,500 families in North Carolina made homeless by Hurricane Helene in September will likely get evicted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency — just as a winter storm is set to hit the region.
“In December, FEMA extended the voucher program — which it calls ‘Transitional Sheltering Assistance’ program — until Saturday, Jan. 11. FEMA said then that Helene survivors would be able to stay at the hotels Friday night, and would have to check out the next Saturday,” WBTV reported.
“The FEMA program allows survivors to stay in hotels and motels for free while they make repairs to their homes and/or search for permanent housing.”
The families were deemed ineligible due to the fact that an inspection had deemed their home to be “habitable,” the applicant had declined to allow them to inspect, or they were otherwise unreachable.
And what great timing, too: “A winter storm was set to hit the region on Friday, Jan. 10. Snow was more likely in western North Carolina due to cold temps, while sleet and freezing rain were possible more south and east.”
The last extension came as 10,000 families had used the program. With 3,500 still in it, they’re essentially being booted out to the snow.
Indeed, FEMA’s poor response to Helene and other storms was one of the reasons why Vice President Kamala Harris lost North Carolina bigly to Donald Trump.
Apparently, the administration hasn’t learned from this, deciding instead to use FEMA’s judgment on what’s “habitable” or the amount of perspicacity the department had exercised in contacting the applicant. (Judging by their appallingly indifferent response to Helene in the first place, one is inclined to trust neither.)
Meanwhile, don’t worry, citizens of Malibu: The White House is picking up 100 percent of the tag for six months! “Spare no expense,” the president says. It’s probably worth noting that this comes as more and more conservatives are pointing out how liberals and progressives essentially set Southern California up for disaster-response failure in innumerable ways and are looking to shore up the Democrat base.
Sorry, poor North Carolinians: If only you’d voted blue, maybe you’d still be a priority for Joe Biden like rich Californians are.
FEMA spent SIX HUNDRED AND FORTY MILLION DOLLARS on illegals this year and now it has no money for disaster relief. In the meantime, Biden gives another $500 million to Ukraine.
FEMA should be gutted.