总统乔·拜登周一,他作为总统首次访问西海岸,调查野火损害和推动行动论战斗气候变化。
拜登首先在爱达荷州的博伊西停留,参观了国家跨部门消防中心——该中心负责协调联邦政府对野火的反应——然后前往加州萨克拉门托地区,查看卡尔多大火的影响,并听取当地官员的简报。
总统利用最近的自然灾害来表明气候变化的紧迫性及其对美国人民的致命影响,并将其大规模支出计划作为以更绿色、更清洁、更有弹性的方式重建基础设施的一种方式。
他还将此行作为支持加州州长加文·纽瑟姆的一种方式,后者是周二面临罢免选举的民主党人。纽森出现在拜登在加州停留的地方,他感谢总统将气候变化作为优先事项。
在飞越加州北部的破坏后,拜登谈到了破坏——“家园,珍贵的记忆被摧毁”——并称更频繁和极端的野火是“我们国家闪烁的红色代码。”
“我们不能忽视这样一个现实,即这些野火正被气候变化加剧,”他说。“这不是关于红色或蓝色状态;是关于火,只是火。”
总统说,美国人需要面对时代已经改变的现实。
拜登在博伊西会见官员时说:“从黄石大火到今天,一切都发生了巨大的变化。”1988年火灾这在当时引发了美国历史上最大规模的灭火反应。“变了,回不去了。它不会回来了。”
本月早些时候,总统访问了路易斯安那,新泽西和纽约去看看飓风艾达及其残余的影响。
白宫和国会民主党领导人希望在本月底前通过两项主要法案,这两项法案将共同为开发清洁能源、重建物理基础设施以使其能够抵御更极端的天气事件以及为联邦车队通电提供数千亿美元的资金。
“我给你们的信息是,当我们重建时,我们必须更好地重建,”拜登说,他用了一个口号来描述他的议程。“这不是民主党的事情,也不是共和党的事情。这是天气问题。这是现实。”
较大的账单-价格标签和内容已被民主内斗-将投入1350亿美元预防野火、应对干旱和在农村社区推广清洁能源等等。
在加州,拜登解释说,这3.5万亿美元将在10年内支出,只占美国国内生产总值的一小部分。
“我们必须胸怀大志,”他说。“想小是灾难的药方。我们会完成的。这个国家将走到一起,我们将战胜气候变化。”
在爱达荷州期间,拜登参观了联邦消防中心,并推动他的政府使用《国防生产法》,这是一项1950年的法律,允许总统指导民用企业帮助满足国防所需产品的订单,以刺激消防软管的生产。
据一位熟悉拜登言论的人士称,该法案的实施使一家位于俄克拉荷马城的非营利组织能够生产415英里长的消防软管,该组织是美国林业局消防软管的主要供应商。
拜登表示,他能够“重启生产”...让很多人重返工作岗位,在前线运送了21,920英尺的新消防水带。”
随后,他前往加州长滩,在周一晚间新闻发布会上发表演讲。
Biden surveys California fire damage as he urges action on climate change
PresidentJoe Bidenon Monday made his first visit to the West Coast as president,surveying wildfire damageandpushing for actionon combattingclimate change.
Biden first stopped in Boise, Idaho, to visit the National Interagency Fire Center -- which coordinates the federal government's response to wildfires -- before traveling to the Sacramento, California, area to view the impact of the Caldor Fire and receive a briefing from local officials.
The president has used recent natural disasters to show the urgency of climate change and its deadly effects on the American people, pitching his massive spending plan as a way to rebuild infrastructure in a greener, cleaner, more resilient manner.
He also used the trip as a way to shore up support for California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat facing a recall election Tuesday. Newsom appeared alongside Biden at his stops in California, thanking the president for making climate change a priority.
After flying over damage in northern California, Biden spoke of the devastation -- "homes, precious memories destroyed" -- and called the more frequent and extreme wildfires "a blinking code red for our nation."
"We can't ignore the reality that these wildfires are being supercharged by climate change," he said. "It isn't about red or blue states; it's about fires, just fires."
The president said Americans need to face the reality that times have changed.
"From the Yellowstone fire to today, all's changed, in a drastic, drastic way," Biden said while meeting with officials in Boise, referring to the1988 firesthat at the time prompted the largest-ever firefighting response in U.S. history. "It's changed, It's not going back. It's not going back."
Earlier this month, the president visitedLouisiana,New Jersey and New Yorkto see the impact of Hurricane Ida and its remnants.
The White House and Democratic leaders in Congress hope to pass two major bills by the end of the month that, together, would make hundreds of billions of dollars available for developing clean energy, rebuilding physical infrastructure to make it withstand more extreme weather events, and electrifying the federal fleet of vehicles.
"My message to you is, when we build back, we have to build back better," Biden said, using a slogan he has used to describe his agenda. "It's not a Democrat thing, it's not a Republican thing. It's a weather thing. It's a reality."
The larger bill -- the price tag and contents of which have been subject toDemocratic infighting--would devote $135 billionto preventing wildfires, dealing with droughts and promoting clean energy in rural communities, among other things.
In California, Biden explained that the $3.5 trillion would be spent over 10 years and would represent a small fraction of the size of the United States' gross domestic product.
"We have to think big," he said. "Thinking small is a prescription for disaster. We're going to get this done. This nation is going to come together, and we are going to beat this climate change."
While in Idaho, Biden toured the federal fire center and promoted his administration's use of the Defense Production Act, a 1950 law that allows the president to direct civilian businesses to help meet orders for products necessary for the national defense, to spur the production of firehoses.
The use of the act enabled an Oklahoma City-based nonprofit, which is the main supplier of the U.S. Forest Service's firehoses, to produce 415 miles of fire hose, according to a person familiar with Biden's remarks.
Biden said he was able to "restart production ... bringing a lot of people back to work, delivering 21,920 new feet of firehose at the frontlines."
He then traveled to Long Beach, California, to speak at a Monday evening campaign rally with Newsom.