Administration of Joseph R. Biden, Jr., 2022

June 11, 2022

The President. Well, Governor, thank you very much. Before I begin, we're on National Guard property. I just wanted to say that the National Guard, obviously, is controlled by the Governor, except when federalized. And I have federalized you a number of times nationwide to fight fires, to fight every disaster we've had. And my son was a major in the National Guard. And I think the people don't quite understand the extentâthe extentâof the work you do and the risk you take for us.

And secondly, there's an expression where I come from: "God made man, then he made some firefighters." You're all crazyâ[*laughter*]âbut I love you. I grew up in a neighborhood called Claymont, Delaware, when we moved from Scranton when coal died. And although my parents weren't in the coal minesâthey were in salesâbut the economy shriveled, and we moved down to this little steel town. And I went to a little Catholic school across from the fire departmentâa fire station. And everybody I grew up with, you either became a cop, a firefighter, or a priest. I wasn't qualified for any of them, so here I am. [*Laughter*]

Iâbut you know, just so you know, I've done too many individual and mass funerals for firefighters and hotshots andâand you're an incredible group of people, I mean, a truly incredible group of people. Anybodyâand the overwhelming human instinct is, you run away from a fire, not into it. And the only thing that protects firefighters is more firefightersâthe only thing. More firefighters.

And I just wanted to say that at the outset, because Iâyou have my indebted gratitude. And my fire department saved my life literally, not figuratively. My house got struck by lightning, and it mostly burned down. It had to be rebuilt.

Savedâthe thickâthe smoke was so thick, Gov. It was literally that thick. And you couldn't see through the windows or out the windows. And the floors were collapsing, and these guys went in and did two things: Most importantly, they got my wife outâI was in Washington when it happenedâand saved our cat. But equally important, almostânot equally, but importantâI have a '67 Corvette they got out. [*Laughter*]

And so, at any rateâbut my point is, you're incredible. And so, Governor, thank you. And Senators Heinrich and LujÃ¡n, thank you very much for all you do. And Teresa Leger FernÃ¡ndez andâyou know, Herrell, and you know, Stansbury, and all Members of the House doing a great job.

Andâbut maybe the proudest thing I've done is, I appointed the first Native American to be a Cabinet member. But she's only been in New Mexico 35 generations. You're a newcomer. [*Laughter*] A newcomer.

But look, a special thanks again to the firefightersâover 4,000 of you. Over 4,000 of you are putting your lives on the line.

And we're about to receive a briefing about the largest, most destructive wildfire in America so far this year and the largest wildfire in New Mexico's history. I just flew over some of the damage. And Air Force One is so damn big we couldn't go in, but we flew the perimeter of the fire. And it's an astounding amount of territory.

And the impact on families that have been there for so long are so consequential. And in thisâin a wayâyou know, there's, you know, nearly 700,000 acres. And a new fire just startedâ

have just started. Thousands of people displaced. Ranchers wiped out. Schools shuttered. And wilderness that looks like a moonscape. You could see parts of it where I was able to see.

And I'm thinking about what you're thinking, and that is our responsibility. It's not a gift. We have a responsibility to help this State recover, to help the families who have been here for centuries, and the beautiful northern New Mexico villagers who can't go home and whose livelihoods have been fundamentally changed.

Governor, let me be clear: We will be here for you in response and recovery for as long as it takes. As long as it takes. And I learned something about this Governor: When she asks something, I just say, "Yes." [*Laughter*] But I don't think there'sââ

Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico. Can you get the Legislature to do that?

The President. Well, that'sâ[laughter]âthat's what we're trying. You know, I've publicly gone on record of supporting itâof supporting it. That is 100 percentâanyway. ThereâI hope we're able to get that done. I know that Ben Ray is working like hell in the House to get passage. But we're going toâI have a little more trouble in the United States Senate. We have 50 Democratic Senators, which means we have 51 "presidents." [Laughter]

And so it'sâyou know, we've got to get a consensus, and we can'tânot a consensus, in some cases, if they insist on it being aârequiring cloture, and we need 60 votes. So it remains to be seen.

And soâbut you know, when you asked for major disaster declaration, Governor, I immediately responded, providing millions of dollars in housing assistance and cash grants and funding for emergency respondersânot because they're doing any favor; it's an obligation. I think we have a responsibility, as a Government, as aâto deal with the communities who are put inâ in such jeopardy.

And today I'm announcing the Federal Government is covering 100 percent of the cost of debris removal and emergency protective measures for the next critical months that areâin this recovery.

And then there's going to be a strong bridge until weâthat we pass the Hermit's Peak Fire Assistance Act, introduced by Senator LujÃ¡n and Senator Heinrich and yourâand Senator FernÃ¡ndez, as well as Stansbury, to fully compensateâfully compensate survivors for their total loss.

Every year, the Forest Service, to put this in perspectiveâthey do a pretty damn good jobâ conduct 4,500 prescribed burns. 99.8 percent go as planned. Andâbut this time, tragically, it did not. And that's why the Forest Service has just put a complete pause on prescribed burns in ourâ in the Forest Service lands. And it's conducting an intensive 90-day review, which will make public theâall the detail of that review. And this needs to happen. And I'll be briefed on the results, and we'll brief the world on the resultsâthe country on the results.

And for folks at home, there are hundreds of fireâof Federal personnel on the ground trying to help you get through this. I think, if you take a look, the most important thing you can do is register with FEMA, which allows you to get assistance you deserve and you need quickly. And there's a FEMA mobile app that allows you to quickly register for assistance. And it's available in Spanish as well.

And our Director of FEMA, who I think has done an incredible jobâhow many folks you have here now roughly?

Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Bennett Criswell. Just under 400.

The President. Just under 400 here. And it'sâI don'tâweâif you don't have phone service yet, you have Disaster RecoversâRecovery Centers in Mora and Las Vegas where you can register as well.

And we also have a team on the ground to help you register. And FEMA is calling every person who is denied assistanceâanybody denied assistanceâto ensure they get the help they need and in the language they speak.

A lot of, you knowâyou know, you've got to know how to know. You've got to know what you need to know to be able to get something done. I can walk into the Library of Congressâone of the great libraries in the worldâif you don't know how to work the card catalog, it's not very much use to you. I mean it. You've got to know how to know.

And so we've learned, in our administration, that it's not just enough to provide the help but let people know how they can access the help, and when they can't, how they can go about to fix that. And so eligible residents can sign up for a State program that provides benefits to buy groceries and hot meals as well.

For the longer term, but beginning right now, we have to help with the combined impacts of drought and wildfires andâwhich threaten your vital watershed. And it's hard to explain to people back east when I talk about this, because we've gone toâwe've spent some time, the FEMA Director and I, in other parts of the countryâin Northern California, Oregon, up in Idahoâto explain what we're talking about, the scope and size and the consequence, and how the watershed is notânot literallyâbut in fact are evaporating in many places. Find yourself in a position where it has vital, vital impact.

And through the bipartisan infrastructure, we'veâare already investing hundreds of millions of dollars in the Stateâof your drought relief and wildfire mitigation and water infrastructure.

And as the monsoon season approaches, we've authorized another $22 million to protect critical water infrastructure from postfire flooding and debris flows. And the work starts today. It starts today. Not next week, not next month. Today.

The bottom line is, Govâto the people of New Mexico: We'll do whatever it takes, as long as it takes, to follow your leadership and whatâtelling us what you need. And I promise you, Iâ and Iâand we kind of joke. They say the "Governor is on the phone." I say, "Just tell her yes." And then I start the conversation. Y'all think I'm kidding. I'm not kidding. [*Laughter*]

So I'm going to stop here. And I guess we're going to getâstart the briefing, if we could.

Andâbut I guess, David, I'm talking to you first. You're Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, so I'm going to yield to you. Okay?

[*At this point, the briefing continued; no transcript was provided*.]

NOTE: The President spoke at 3:18 p.m. at the New Mexico State Regional Training Installation Facility. In his remarks, he referred to Secretary of the Interior Debra A. Haaland; and New Mexico Secretary of Homeland Security and Emergency Management David C. Dye.

Categories: Addresses and Remarks : Wildfires, briefing in Santa Fe, NM. Locations: Santa Fe, NM.

Names: Biden, Jill T.; Criswell, Deanne Bennett; Dye, David C.; FernÃ¡ndez, Teresa I. Leger; Grisham, Michelle Lujan; Haaland, Debra A.; Heinrich, Martin T.; Herrell, S. Yvette; LujÃ¡n, Ben Ray; Stansbury, Melanie.

Subjects: Agriculture, Department of : Forest Service, U.S.; Armed Forces, U.S. : National Guard; Disaster assistance : New Mexico; Homeland Security, Department of : Emergency Management Agency, Federal; Infrastructure, national improvement efforts; Interior, Department of the : Secretary; Natural disasters : Wildfires, prevention and response efforts; New Mexico : Disaster assistance; New Mexico : Governor; New Mexico : President's visit; New Mexico : Wildfires, damage and recovery efforts.

DCPD Number: DCPD202200512.