Biden uses deadly NYC Ida flooding to push $1.2T infrastructure bill
President Biden on Thursday said “the climate crisis” caused deadly New York City flooding from Tropical Storm Ida as he used the disaster to push his $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill.
Biden spoke after at least 18 people died in New York and New Jersey, including at least eight people who drowned in flooded basement apartments in Queens and Brooklyn.
“The past few days of Hurricane Ida and the wildfires in the West and the unprecedented flash floods in New York and New Jersey is yet another reminder that these extreme storms and the climate crisis are here,” Biden said in a speech from the White House-adjacent Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
“We need to act. When Congress returns this month, I’m going to press for their action on my Build Back Better plan that’s going to make historic investments in electrical infrastructure, modernizing our roads, bridges, our water systems, sewer and drainage systems, electric grids and transmission lines and make them more resilient to these super storms and wildfires and floods that are going to happen with increasing frequency and ferocity.”
Biden spoke with Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) overnight about the flooding but in his public remarks addressed the New York-area death toll only in passing and also mentioned wildfires in California and flooding and electricity outages in Louisiana when Hurricane Ida swept ashore,
“People were trapped in the subways, but the heroic men and women of the New York Fire Department rescued all of them,” Biden said.
“For now, 11 people in New York and New Jersey died because of the storm. And I want to express my heartfelt thanks to all the first responders.”
Biden is scheduled to tour hurricane damage in Louisiana on Friday. He has not yet announced plans to visit the New York area.
The Senate last month voted 69-30 to pass a bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that includes $110 billion for roads and bridges, $73 billion for electric grid and power infrastructure and resilience, $55 billion for water infrastructure, $39 billion for public transportation, $7.5 billion for electric vehicle charging stations and $5 billion to buy electric and low-emission buses.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has not yet held a vote on final passage of the bill as Democrats seek leverage to also pass a secondary $3.5 trillion bill without Republican support using special budget reconciliation rules.
The second package faces resistance from Democratic moderates and would include many items that didn’t make the cut into the bipartisan bill, including more money for renewable energy initiatives, free preschool and community college classes and new subsidies for home health care and childcare.
