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Updated May 25th, 2021 at 14:33 IST

Biden thanks federal emergency staff for hard work

President Joe Biden dropped into FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) offices in Washington, D.C., on Monday, thanking staff for their hard work as he announced a doubling of U.S. emergency spending to help communities prepare for hurricanes and other extreme weather events.

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President Joe Biden dropped into FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) offices in Washington, D.C., on Monday, thanking staff for their hard work as he announced a doubling of U.S. emergency spending to help communities prepare for hurricanes and other extreme weather events.

The $1 billion in spending being announced is a small fraction of what the U.S. spends on weather-related disasters.

Last year alone, the nation endured 22 separate weather and climate-related disasters with losses greater than $1 billion each. The disasters, including wildfires, hurricanes and snowstorms, had a cumulative price tag of nearly $100 billion.

2021 has already had significant winter storms that caused a deadly blackout in Texas and other states and underscore the damage caused by climate change.

Forecasters predict the Atlantic hurricane season will be busier than normal, but is unlikely to be as severe as 2020's record-shattering year.

The steps being announced Monday are part of Biden's pledge to elevate the importance of climate change as a major priority. Biden has set a target to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by up to 52% below 2005 levels by 2030. He also has said he expects to adopt a clean energy standard that would make electricity carbon-free by 2035, along with the wider goal of net-zero carbon emissions economywide by 2050.

 

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Published May 25th, 2021 at 14:30 IST

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