(Bloomberg) — President Joe Biden warned on Monday in Idaho that fierce wildfires devastating the Western U.S. represent “a serious global warming problem” and called on Congress to approve an infrastructure package that includes funding for resilience programs.
“It’s not going to get any better than this,” Biden said during a meeting with federal and state fire officials in Boise’s National Interagency Fire Center. “It’s going to get worse.”
The president has repeatedly pointed to natural disasters as justification for his infrastructure and social spending programs, arguing that the packages currently under consideration by Congress would combat climate change and help those impacted by extreme weather.
“We owe you more than just our thanks, we owe you what you need to deal with these problems,” Biden told fire officials participating in the briefing.
Earlier this month, Biden visited communities in Louisiana, New York, and New Jersey that saw flooding and wind damage from Hurricane Ida and argued the destruction proved the need for trillions in spending on roads, bridges and the power grid.
He plans to head to Sacramento, California, later Monday to survey damage from the wildfires and hold another meeting with local officials before making a campaign stop for Governor Gavin Newsom, who’s facing a recall election.
The White House has sought to frame efforts to battle the growing threat of wildfires as a bipartisan issue. In addition to the president’s trip to Idaho — where he lost to former President Donald Trump by more than 30 points — Biden hosted the Republican governors of Utah and Wyoming during a virtual discussion of efforts to combat wildfires in late June.
“This is one of the areas where we do have some overwhelming, bipartisan support,” Biden said.
At that meeting, Biden announced he would increase pay for federal firefighters and use government satellites to detect blazes earlier. And on Monday, the president said he had used the Defense Production Act in early August to help the U.S. Forest Service purchase more fire hoses amid supply chain disruptions.
Since the beginning of 2021 more than 7,300 wildfires have burned more than 2.2 million acres of land in California alone, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The agency said more than 13,000 firefighters are battling 16 major wildfires presently — including a blaze in Mendocino County that has prompted a fresh round of evacuation orders.
Biden’s efforts on wildfires also appeared designed to draw implicit contrast with Trump, who used a similar meeting in Sacramento last year to blame California for the wildfires, arguing the state didn’t do enough to clear underbrush from forest floors. Trump also threatened to withhold federal funds.
On Sunday, Biden approved a disaster declaration that would provide federal assistance to areas in California impacted by recent fires.
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