Joe Biden tours Hurricane Helene damage, calls for…

President Joe Biden said recovery efforts would cost “billions of dollars” and called on lawmakers to ensure additional funding as he toured areas devastated by Hurricane Helene on Thursday.

“Congress has an obligation, it seems to me, to ensure states have the resources they need,” Biden said Thursday at a pecan farm in Georgia, adding that aid “can’t wait. People need help now.”

It was the president’s second consecutive day in a tour of the region, where several states have been hard-hit by flooding and power outages, causing more than 160 deaths and leaving hundreds missing. He earlier had toured the Keaton Beach neighborhood in northwest Florida, where homes and businesses had been punished by the rains and wind.

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Biden-Harris Administration continues…

Biden said he hoped the response could transcend the “rabid partisanship” that had gripped politics. The White House has not yet released a formal request to Congress detailing how much they’ll need for recovery efforts from the storm, but the president and aides have indicated they’ll pursue additional funding when lawmakers return from their pre-election recess.

The hurricane aftermath has become a major focus of the presidential candidates this week, with widespread damage in two two key battleground states: Georgia and North Carolina. Biden, along with Vice President Kamala Harris, have sought to reassure Americans of the administration’s commitment to helping the Southeast rebuild in the wake.

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Total economic damages — including those covered by private insurance — could cost as much as $160 billion, according to a projection from AccuWeather Inc. That would make it one of the five costliest storms in US history.

Both Harris and Republican Donald Trump made stops to Georgia earlier this week. Trump is slated to travel to North Carolina on Friday and Harris has said she’ll make a visit to the state in the coming days.

Early voting and mail-in voting has also been impacted, at least temporarily, in several states because of road damage, power outages and flooding.

Biden has warned that a strike by a major dockworkers union, the International Longshoremen’s Association, could slow recovery efforts with relief supplies trapped on container ships.

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On Thursday, Biden took an aerial tour to survey the damage in Florida communities by helicopter and received a briefing, followed by a stop in Georgia. On Wednesday, he made similar stops in North and South Carolina.

Biden has authorized the federal government to cover 100% of costs associated with mass recovery efforts for three months in Florida and Georgia. The White House approved six months of total cost-sharing for North Carolina.

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