President Joe Biden traveled to Colorado to survey the damage caused by a rare winter fire that tore through a suburban neighborhood before the start of the new year.
In remarks at a Denver County community center, Biden offered short- and long-term help to the families. “We’re here with you,” he said. “We’re not going to go away. The federal government’s not going away.” He vowed to help clear the debris and assist people in rebuilding or relocating.
People gathered outside the center and along the route, with one person carrying a Colorado state flag. “The commitment began the day the fire started,” Biden said. He noted that the disaster declaration was approved on New Year’s Eve.
THIRTEEN PEOPLE DIE IN PHILADELPHIA APARTMENT FIRE
Biden suggested that climate change, or a “change in the weather,” may have played a role. Drought and extreme heat over the summer created a “tinderbox” and “supercharged” the fires, he said.
The president also promoted his stalled Build Back Better legislation and invoked tragedies in his own life. “Hang on to each other,” he said. “The way you’re going to get through this — I’ve been through a few things myself — is hang on to one another.”
Before meeting privately with the families grappling with the destruction, the president and first lady Jill Biden toured a neighborhood in the Louisville area where some 1,000 homes were destroyed in the late December Marshall Fire.
In Harper Lake, the president hugged a woman before she turned to explain the damage behind her caused by the fire. Snow dusted the charred remains of homes, trees, and burned-out cars.
The first lady hugged a man dressed in shorts who said his family had “lost everything” in the blaze before Biden walked over and embraced him.
“I’m not even properly dressed because this is all I have,” the man told Biden, gesturing to his clothing.
“We definitely need help,” the man’s son said.
Biden and the first lady shook hands with a group of 10 fire and rescue officials, with the president giving each a challenge coin.
Last week, the president declared the fire a federal disaster, unlocking aid for those affected.
Biden was met by Colorado Gov. Jared Polis upon his arrival in Denver, traveling with the state’s Democratic federal congressional delegation, including Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper and U.S. Reps. Jason Crow and Joe Neguse.
Reporters traveling with the president en route to Harper Lake spotted several climate change protesters holding aloft a banner that read “Code Red.”
Biden’s visit comes amid broader challenges for his administration, including a stalled social spending bill, rising prices, coronavirus cases, and supply shortages.
Polis has been outspoken on the need for assistance, calling on Biden in December to offer economic relief to people suffering from the costs of inflation.
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That month, the White House and liberals were left reeling after Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin said he could not support Biden’s Build Back Better legislation. Neguse had played a key role in getting liberals to vote “yes” on Biden’s infrastructure deal last year, according to colleagues who praised his efforts. But doing so meant decoupling it from the president’s broader now-stalled plan.
The fallout among the party’s left wing seemed to prompt the suggestion that Biden could face a primary challenger in 2024.
