Beyond 'Build Back Better'

My World’s on Fire is a newsletter about disasters from journalist Colleen Hagerty. My goal is to help you feel a bit more at ease about our unpredictable world by equipping you with in-depth reporting and insights. I can only do that with your continued support, so please subscribe and spread the word!

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As President-elect Joe Biden begins building out his White House roster, there’s a flurry of speculation about who will be selected for certain high-profile spots and how his transition team will fill the thousands of open federal jobs. In one NBC News article, a transition official discussed the massive task, saying that “a lot of the positions that we are most focused on” are less about politics and more about finding someone with the right mix of “execution and expertise.”

For example:

I have to say I didn’t see that coming, because, for a guy that chose a disaster recovery-related phrase for his campaign slogan, Biden doesn’t talk about that very much. So, for today’s newsletter, I decided to dig into what the President-elect has said during his campaign, with a focus on his statements about FEMA and disasters triggered by natural hazards.

Primarily, his thoughts on these topics have come up in three contexts:

COVID-19 response

FEMA currently plays a key role in coordinating the federal COVID-19 response, and Biden has indicated that it will continue to do so under his watch.

“The fact is that this is a national emergency — that’s what FEMA is supposed to deal with,” he told a virtual meeting of governors earlier this week. He also previously committed to allocating FEMA disaster funds towards equipping schools with PPE supplies, such as masks and hand sanitizer, after the agency announced schools were not eligible for reimbursement for these items.

“Now Trump’s FEMA director is cutting schools loose,” Biden said in September. “This is an emergency, Mr. President. This is an emergency. And Donald Trump and his FEMA should treat it as one.”

Tweets and prayers

On Tuesday, Biden offered his prayers to the Central American people impacted by Hurricane Eta and then-incoming Hurricane Iota, both of which have been devastating to the region.

It was the latest in what’s been a series of tweets from Biden responding to the incredibly active hurricane season. He repeatedly offered prayers, often paired with praise for first responders.

Biden offered similar sentiments to those impacted by the wildfires in the West and derecho in Iowa this summer. And in September, he marked the third anniversary of Hurricane Maria with a statement providing those platitudes, but also pledging to invest in Puerto Rico’s continuing recovery if elected president:

Similar to his tweets, this statement fails to offer much of a view into how Biden plans to handle these types of disasters when they happen under his purview. That said, he has offered a bit more insight into his thoughts on preventing them, which brings me to…

Climate change

When Biden has brought up disaster events, it’s often been as proof of the high stakes of the climate crisis. It’s how worsening wildfires became an attack ad against Trump and how “storms that wreak havoc” ended up featured on his transition website.

“From coastal towns to rural farms to urban centers, climate change poses an existential threat — not just to our environment, but to our health, our communities, our national security, and our economic well-being,” begins his climate change-dedicated page. “It also damages our communities with storms that wreak havoc on our towns and cities and our homes and schools.”

The section goes on to promise “a new foundation for sustainable growth” and to prioritize environmental justice in this work. While it offers more concrete plans relating to climate change, such as investing in infrastructure, it does not explicitly get into disaster policies.

However, “The Biden Plan to Secure Environmental Justice and Equitable Economic Opportunity” on his campaign website does offer more detail:

A later section also promises to “establish a biennial Health Care System Readiness Task Force, a public-private task force to assess the current state of the nation’s health care system resilience to natural disasters” and to have the U.S. Global Change Research Program and the National Security Council “publish a declassified, annual report identifying the type, likelihood of occurrence, and locations at the highest risk, and potential impacts of natural disasters in the United States.”

So, what does all of this mean?

Despite the buzz from the transition official NBC News spoke with, there’s not too much from the past year that indicates Biden’s approach to FEMA – notably, it’s not mentioned within his most concrete proposals in the section above. To be fair, as one former FEMA executive I spoke with recently lamented, candidates don’t typically make their vision for FEMA a priority when campaigning, despite the fact that disasters often factor heavily into presidential legacies.

And, while disasters are clearly a consideration for the Biden administration, it doesn’t appear this year’s onslaught of hurricanes and wildfires has translated into increased attention to disaster policies beyond his earlier campaign proposals – at least, not yet.

I did reach out to Biden’s team to ask for more information but have not received a response. If you’re also curious to learn more about his disaster approach, please consider sharing this post! You never know who will see it ;)

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Now, here’s a little something for reading to the end.

Colleen