Harris v. Trump On Extreme Weather

August 19, 2024

The Contrast: Hurricanes

As Vice President, Harris Showed Up For Communities Impacted By Hurricanes And Played A Major Role In Advancing The Administration’s Actions To Alleviate Storm Impacts

As vice president, Harris worked to pass the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which invested $100 million into the U.S. Forest Service to bolster its response to extreme weather emergencies, including hurricanes and floods.
As vice president, Harris visited Puerto Rico to highlight the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to supporting Puerto Rico’s recovery following hurricanes and earthquakes. Harris highlighted the $140 billion that has been invested in Puerto Rico for disaster response and infrastructure improvements.
Vice President Harris visited Texas to meet with city and county leaders to discuss recovery efforts after Hurricane Beryl, which left millions without power and killed 24 people.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law allocated billions in funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program. This funding will help prepare communities for heat waves, drought, wildfires, floods, hurricanes, and other hazards.
The Biden-Harris administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law also invested $7 billion in wastewater, sanitation, and stormwater infrastructure, helping to build resiliency during extreme weather, including hurricanes.
As vice president, Harris connected extreme weather, including hurricanes and flooding, to the impacts of the climate crisis and highlighted that as the climate crisis worsens, so will extreme weather.
As vice president, Harris announced a $1 billion investment through FEMA to fund climate resiliency efforts to combat extreme weather such as hurricanes and tropical storms.
Vice President Harris announced a $562 million investment towards improving resiliency to threats such as rising seas and coastal flooding. The funding aimed to focus more attention on assistance for underserved communities tackling storm threats.

Trump Botched Hurricane Recovery Efforts

In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria – which hit Puerto Rico in 2017 – Trump botched recovery efforts, delayed over $20 billion in aid, and diminished Puerto Rico’s suffering.
- Trump famously threw paper towels into a crowd in San Juan after Hurricane Maria devastated the island.
- According to the NOAA, Hurricane Maria caused $114.3 in total damages and killed 2,981 people.
- Twenty-seven days after Hurricane Maria hit, only 13.7% of Puerto Rico had electricity.
- In 2018, Trump’s Federal Emergency Management Agency gave a $156 million contract to an entrepreneur with no experience in disaster relief to provide 30 million meals to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. The entrepreneur provided only 50,000 meals.
- Trump’s FEMA also gave a $30 million contract for emergency tarps and plastic sheeting for Puerto Rico to a newly created Florida company – the tarps were never delivered.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey – which hit Texas in 2017 – Trump’s response was apathetic and insensitive; he made jokes about Texans and claimed Texas made a fortune from the hurricane.
- According to NOAA, Hurricane Harvey caused $158.8 billion in total damages and killed 89 people.
In 2019, Trump redrew the trajectory of Hurricane Dorian to include Alabama in an official NOAA map. Trump aggressively defended his false claim that Hurricane Dorian was likely to hit Alabama, even after the National Weather Service stressed that “no impacts from Hurricane Dorian will be felt across Alabama.”
In 2019, the Trump administration diverted Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funding to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to increase immigration enforcement, less than a week after Hurricane Dorian approached the Southern coast.

The Contrast: Wildfires

Harris Acted To Mitigate The Impacts Of Wildfires

As vice president, Harris worked to pass the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which invested $8.25 billion into wildfire management.
In January 2024, the EPA announced the selection of nine grant applicants to receive an expected $10.67 million in funding to enhance wildfire smoke preparedness and protection in communities throughout the West.
In January 2022, the Biden-Harris administration launched a robust, 10-year strategy called “Confronting the Wildfire Crisis” to help in the places where wildfires posed the most immediate threat.
The Biden-Harris Administration also launched a new Community Wildfire Defense Grant program that helps local communities develop and implement wildfire preparedness plans. Vice President Harris emphasized the connection between the increase in the severity and frequency of wildfires to the climate crisis
While serving in the Senate, Harris met with California Gov. Newsom and emergency officials during the 2020 California wildfires and called for increased action to address climate change and efforts to mitigate the damage caused by wildfires.
While serving in the Senate, Harris emphasized the severity of the climate crisis causing a public health crisis when discussing the potentially toxic air caused by wildfires in California.
In 2022, Vice President Harris announced $600 million towards California’s wildfire recovery efforts.
In the Senate, Harris cosponsored the Smoke Planning and Research Act, which required the EPA to research and mitigate the impacts of smoke emissions from wildfires and established a grant program to support community wildfire mitigation efforts.
In the Senate, Harris sponsored the Wildfire Defense Act, which directed FEMA to establish a community wildfire defense grant program and required the grants to be prioritized for low-income communities in fire-hazard areas.

Trump Exploited Deadly Wildfires And Denied That Climate Change Has An Impact On Wildfires

In 2016, Trump claimed there was no drought in California despite the state experiencing its driest four-year period in state history.
In August 2023, Trump dismissed the impact of climate change on Hawaii’s wildfires and criticized Hawaii’s Governor for blaming climate change.
In 2018, less than a month before California’s deadliest wildfire, Trump threatened to withhold funding for fighting wildfires if the state didn’t remove “old trees” from forests. A former Trump official claimed that Trump tried to withhold wildfire disaster relief money for California in 2018 because voters in the state opposed him politically.
- The 2018 California Camp Fire was the deadliest wildfire in the state’s modern history, killing 86.
In 2019, Trump stated that he ordered FEMA to stop sending money to California for wildfire relief “unless they get their act together.” Trump’s 2019 budget plan also proposed a 16 percent cut in grant funding for state wildfire action plans.
In 2020, during the California wildfires, Trump criticized the notion that the environment had an impact on the California wildfires, and blamed wildfires on dead leaves and “matchstick trees” that “just explode.”
In 2020, Trump initially rejected the California government’s request for federal disaster relief funds to help the state recover from devastating wildfires. That year, western wildfires caused $19.7 billion in damages and killed 46 people, and the number of acres burned in California more than doubled its previous record set in 2018.
- One of the 2020 wildfires, the Creek Fire, was the largest single inferno in California history.

The Contrast: Extreme Heat And Drought

In The Senate And As Vice President, Harris Played A Major Role In Advancing Actions To Tackle Extreme Heat

Vice President Harris cast the tie-breaking vote to pass the clean energy plan, which invested $1.5 billion in urban and community forestry to address heat vulnerability in urban communities.
In April 2022, the Biden-Harris administration released $385 million through the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) to help reduce summer cooling costs.
Under the Biden-Harris administration, OSHA initiated the rulemaking process toward the first-ever national heat standard to ensure protections in workplaces across the country.
In April 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor’s OSHA launched a National Emphasis Program to protect millions of workers from heat illness and injuries. OSHA will conduct heat-related workplace inspections before workers are hurt or die
In May 2024, the Biden-Harris administration released the Heat and Health Index, which identifies heat-related risks and illnesses at the zip code level. This tool will help local and state governments protect people from soaring temperatures driven by climate change.
Harris cast the tie-breaking vote to pass the clean energy plan, which invested more than $1 billion in competitive grants for the Urban and Community Forestry Program to combat the urban heat island effect by planting and maintaining trees that cool city streets and improve air quality and public health.
Harris cast the tie-breaking vote to pass the clean energy plan, which established the Climate Pollution Reduction Grants, providing nearly $5 billion to reduce carbon pollution and harmful air pollution, key drivers of warming temperatures.
In 2020, then-Senator Harris sponsored legislation to strengthen Occupational Safety and Health Act protections and establish standards to prevent exposure to excessive heat.
In August 2024, the Biden-Harris administration released a national strategy for addressing extreme heat, with goals of communication and education on the dangers of extreme heat and finding solutions to prevent heat illness.

Harris Worked To Tackle Drought And Its Impacts

Vice President Harris cast the tie-breaking vote to pass the clean energy plan. The landmark climate law invested $4 billion to mitigate the impacts of drought, including funding compensation for voluntary reductions in water use, conservation projects that reduce water demand, and ecosystem restoration projects that address drought.
In the Senate, Harris sponsored a bill on drought resilience that was eventually passed into law as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law invests $8.3 billion over five years in reclamation water infrastructure projects to advance drought resilience.
The clean energy plan invests nearly $4.6 billion to advance conservation and mitigate drought impacts in the Colorado River System with an efficiency program and plans for domestic water supply projects to disadvantaged communities.
In 2021, the Biden-Harris administration launched the Drought Relief Working Group to address the urgency of the western water crisis.
As vice president, Harris visited drought-stricken Lake Mead to highlight the importance and urge the passage of the Biden-Harris administration’s infrastructure and climate change plans, including drought resilience funding.

Trump Dismissed The Impacts Of Drought

In 2023, at the California GOP Convention, Trump blamed Democrats and Gov. Newsom for the “man-made” drought impacting the West.
In 2016, Trump claimed there was no drought in California. The megadrought in the American Southwest became so severe by 2022 that it was the driest two decades in the region in at least 1,200 years.
In 2018, while Trump was in office, almost 20,000 daily maximum temperature records were broken, and more than 3,000 people died due to extreme heat from 2018-2020.

The Contrast: Infrastructure Climate Resiliency And Preparedness

Harris Advocated For Infrastructure Resiliency To Combat The Effects Of Extreme Weather

In her 2020 campaign, Harris supported mandating federally funded infrastructure projects that integrate climate hazards in project design, which she said will improve community resilience.

As a U.S. Senator, Harris cosponsored the Living Shorelines Act. The bill would create a new grant for shoreline protection projects as sea levels rise. Living shorelines perform better during major storms than hardened shorelines and provide buffering in the event of floods or erosion.
In the Senate, Harris sponsored legislation that required climate impacts to be considered when planning the cleanup of Superfund sites to ensure health hazards were minimized. A Government Accountability Office (GAO) analysis found over 900 Superfund sites are vulnerable to extreme weather.

Harris Prioritized Climate Resilience And Environmental Conservation

Harris gave remarks about climate resilience in 2022: “We can do this. We can build a more equitable future. It’s within our power. And we can build a more resilient future. That’s within our sights. And in the process, yes, we will create millions of good jobs in the clean energy economy.”
Harris praised the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law as a “once-in-generation bill” that “will create millions of jobs, build climate resilience, and keep America competitive.”
In 2019, Harris voted against an amendment that undermined the Land and Water Conservation Fund, jeopardizing the program’s ability to acquire lands for new or expanded sites.
In 2019, Harris voted against an amendment that undermined the Land and Water Conservation Fund, limiting its reauthorization to only a temporary five-year reauthorization from permanent reauthorization.
The Biden-Harris administration allocated $120 million in funding to help Tribal communities plan for the most severe climate-related environmental threats.
Through the administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Department of Energy (DOE) invested $3.5 billion in its Weatherization Assistance Program to help make low-income households safer in extreme weather.
The Biden-Harris administration allocated $2.3 billion over five years for states, territories, and federally recognized Tribes to help modernize the electric grid and reduce the impacts of extreme weather and heat.
In April 2024, the Biden-Harris Administration announced nearly $830 million in grant awards to help strengthen surface transportation systems and make them more resilient to extreme weather events.
The administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law invested billions in funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program to boost communities’ resilience to heat waves, drought, wildfires, floods, hurricanes, and other extreme weather events.
In April 2024, the Biden-Harris Department of the Interior (DOI) released its final Public Lands Rule to help conserve wildlife habitat and restore places impacted by wildfire and drought.
As vice president, Harris visited drought-stricken Lake Mead to highlight the importance and urge the passage of the Biden-Harris administration’s infrastructure and climate change plans, including drought resilience funding.
As vice president, Harris visited the Tujunga Spreading Grounds, which captures water runoff before it flows into the ocean and can provide water for up to 64,000 homes annually. Harris touted the infrastructure bill’s $12 billion in funding for Western water infrastructure and resilience projects.
As vice president, Vice President Harris emphasized drought as a “profoundly significant” issue and discussed the administration’s proposals for water infrastructure investments.

Trump Fought Against Climate Resilience Efforts

In 2017, Trump revoked Obama-era flood standards for federal infrastructure projects that required the government to account for sea level rise and other climate change effects.
In 2017, Trump revoked an Obama-era executive order promoting climate resilience in the northern Bering Sea region of Alaska.
Trump vowed to repeal the clean energy plan, passed by the Biden-Harris administration, which invested $120 million in the Tribal Climate Resilience Program along with $575 million in the first-ever Climate Resilience Regional Challenge.

Trump Cut Funding To Mitigate And Respond To Extreme Weather Events

During Trump’s Presidency, FEMA’s budget was cut by more than half from $12.3 billion in 2018 to $5.3 billion in 2019.
In 2017, Trump proposed cutting the Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant Program by more than 60%.
In 2017, Trump’s proposed budget would eliminate the HUD Fund, which helped communities damaged by natural disasters move on after FEMA left.
In 2017, Trump’s proposed budget would have cut the National Weather Service’s funding by 6%. This cut included $62 million to update weather models and enable the agency to predict changing weather further out.

The Contrast: Sea Level Rise And Flooding

As Vice President, Harris Acted To Mitigate Sea Level Rise And Make Coastal Communities More Resilient

As vice president, Harris cast the tie-breaking vote to pass the clean energy plan. The landmark climate law invested $2.6 billion to support coastal communities and climate resilience.
In June 2023, as part of the clean energy plan passed by Harris’ tie-breaking vote, the administration announced $575 million in funding to help coastal and Great Lakes communities, including tribal communities, become more resilient to extreme weather and other climate impacts.
In 2024, the Biden-Harris administration announced a $2.6 billion framework to protect coastal communities and restore marine resources, funded by the clean energy plan.
In 2023, the Biden-Harris administration launched the Ocean-Based Climate Resilience Accelerators program, a $60 million investment funded by the clean energy plan in coastal resilience.
In October 2023, the Biden-Harris administration awarded $6.7 million from the clean energy plan for sea level rise and coastal resilience research.
The Biden-Harris administration launched the American Climate Corps to train more than 20,000 young people to tackle the climate crisis and to rebuild coastal wetlands to protect communities from storm surges and flooding.
As a U.S. Senator, Harris cosponsored the Living Shorelines Act with Sen. Chris Murphy. The bill would create a new grant for shoreline protection projects as sea levels rise. According to Harris, investing in living shorelines can reduce the risk of floods and storms.

Trump Revoked Critical Flood Standards That Protected Americans, While The Country Witnessed Flooding That Caused $28.5 Billion In Damage And Dozens Of Deaths

In 2017, Trump revoked Obama-era flood standards for federal infrastructure projects that required the government to account for sea level rise and other climate change effects.
- The Obama-era standards required federally funded projects in flood plains to be built or renovated in safer ways. Trump’s decision to revoke the standards in 2017 left buildings more vulnerable to flood damage, and put lives at risk.
During Trump’s presidency, the U.S. saw five billion-dollar flooding events that caused nearly $29 billion in damages and killed 37 people.

Trump Made False Claims About Rising Sea Levels And Joked About Rising Sea Levels Producing More Beachfront Property

Trump has repeated false claims that sea levels were set to rise by one-eighth of an inch over the next 400 years. CNN concluded Trump’s claim was “wildly inaccurate,” noting that “the global average sea level is currently rising more per year than Trump claimed that it will rise in 400 years.”
On the campaign trail, Trump has repeatedly made light of rising sea levels, boasting that they would somehow produce “a little more beachfront property.” The reality is that rising sea levels will have devastating consequences not only for the communities located on the nation’s 95,471 miles of shoreline, but also for areas further inland – rendering some communities uninhabitable, increasing the frequency and impact of flooding, making hurricanes more destructive, and damaging infrastructure and ecosystems.