The president was joined by Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Bescher and briefed on ongoing flood response efforts.
“It’s going to take some time to get through this, but I promise you we’re not leaving. The federal government and all of its resources — we’re not going to leave,” Biden said during the briefing, which was held at Lost Creek Elementary School. “We’ll be here as long as it takes.”
First Lady Jill Biden also traveled to Kentucky with the president. Along with Bescher, Biden was accompanied by several Kentucky elected officials on his trip, including Kentucky Republican Hal Rogers. Biden said he invited Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to Kentucky, but McConnell did not come.
Asked by CNN if he wished the Kentucky senator had joined him, Biden said: “No, I don’t think so. I don’t think I should. He should run the Senate.”
Thousands remain displaced after flooding washes away entire homes. Many also remain stranded without access to clean water, electricity and critical supplies as some communities remain inaccessible due to badly damaged infrastructure. High temperatures, thunderstorms and humidity posed challenges to response efforts.
After surveying the damage and meeting with families affected by the floods, the president praised the local community for their “courage” and “resilience”.
“We are the only country in the world that has come out of every major disaster stronger than we went into it.” We were broken going in, but we came out stronger. That’s the goal here,” Biden said.
He continued, telling the group as they were surrounded by the devastation of the floods, “So I don’t want any Kentucky resident telling me, ‘You shouldn’t do this for me.’ Oh yes we do. You are an American citizen. We never give up, we never stop, we never bow, we never bend — we just keep going. And that’s what we’re going to do here.
On Sunday, Biden provided additional disaster aid to Kentucky after initially approving a disaster declaration on July 29 to supplement local recovery efforts with federal funding.
Monday’s trip took place shortly after Biden was officially cleared to come out of self-isolation after recovering from a second case of Covid-19. The president had spent 18 days at the White House because of two consecutive cases of Covid-19, but then traveled to Rehoboth, Delaware, on Sunday. He tested negative on Saturday but remained in isolation until he tested negative again on Sunday.
By Sunday, Biden had not left the White House since he initially tested positive for Covid-19 on July 21. After a five-day course of Pfizer’s antiviral drug, Paxlovid, he tested positive for a second case of Covid-19 on July 30 and resumed isolation.
The trip came a day after the Senate passed a $750 billion health care, tax and climate bill, in a significant victory for Biden and his party.
The sweeping bill — dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act — would represent the largest climate investment in U.S. history and would make sweeping changes to health policy by giving Medicare the power for the first time to negotiate the prices of certain prescription drugs. and to extend the term of expiring health care subsidies for three years. The legislation would reduce the deficit, be paid for through new taxes — including a 15 percent minimum tax on large corporations and a 1 percent tax on stock buybacks — and increase the Internal Revenue Service’s ability to collect. The legislation still needs to pass the House of Representatives.
CNN’s Maegan Vasquez and Sam Fossum contributed to this report.
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