Gov. DeSantis Praises Biden for His Support After Building Collapse

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday praised President Joe Biden for his support after the collapse of the Surfside condominium earlier this week, the Washington Examiner reports.

DeSantis said, while briefing Biden and various federal government officials about the disaster, that the president "recognized the severity of this tragedy from day one,'' adding that the response ''has been great,'' and saying, "you guys have not only been supportive at the federal level, but we've had no bureaucracy.''

This spurred Biden to say, ''I promise you, there will be none.''

He also said that DeSantis and Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett ''have been completely open with me'' during the response to the incident, saying that the federal government will likely ''pick up 100 percent of the costs'' of the emergency efforts.

''There’s going to be a lot of pain and anxiety and suffering and even the need for psychological help in the days and months that follow,'' Biden said. ''And so, we’re not going anywhere. For real.''

The governor also praised the Biden administration for sending a ''search-and-rescue team from Virginia'' to help with the response.

"This is the first response in Florida's history outside of a hurricane where all of our urban search-and-rescue teams were mobilized," DeSantis said. "So, they've been going in and out of the rubble, searching, trying to find people, trying to rescue people, at a minimum trying to identify anyone who may be deceased to bring closure to the families, which is very important, but they're tired. ... This is grueling."

Biden and first lady Jill Biden are set to spend about three hours with the grieving families who lost loved ones in the collapse following their meetings with Florida officials on Thursday.

"There's nothing worse than having to wait and wonder what happened," Biden said after the tragedy. "It's a tough, tough time. There's so many people waiting. 'Are they alive? Will they be — what will happen?' And so our heart goes out to them."

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