Biden in Puerto Rico: 'I Don't Want the Headline to Read Biden Brings Storm to Puerto Rico' (October 3, 2022)

President Joe Biden opened his remarks in Ponce, Puerto Rico, with a joke about the weather. “Well, my name is Joe Biden, and I don’t want the headline to read” that “Biden Brings Storm to Puerto Rico,” he said, to laughter. “So I don’t—I’m going to maybe have to cut this a little short” [1].

He had come, he said that morning, to fix what others had not. “I’m heading to Puerto Rico because they haven’t been taken very good care of. They’ve been trying like hell to catch up from the last hurricane,” Biden told reporters as he left the White House [2].

In Ponce, he promised a better power grid. “The goal is lower energy bills and more reliable power for Puerto Rican households,” Biden said [1].

The video above shows the opening of Biden’s Oct. 3, 2022, remarks on the recovery from Hurricane Fiona. Quotes are from the official transcript and the White House pool reports published by the American Presidency Project [1][2].

”Haven’t Been Taken Very Good Care Of”

The trip came five years after Hurricane Maria. Biden listed what the island had been through: “Hurricane Maria 5 years ago; a 6.4-magnitude earthquake 2 years ago.” Then “COVID-19. And then, Fiona” [1].

“After Maria, Congress approved billions of dollars for Puerto Rico, much of it not having gotten here initially. We’re going to make sure you get every single dollar promised,” he said [1].

On Air Force One, a reporter asked FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell about “this anniversary of Donald Trump’s trip down there.” Criswell answered: “We know that there may have been some issues in the previous administration” [3].

”That Number Is Going to Go Up”

Biden said his team was “particularly focused on the power grid.” “This year, today, Puerto Rico has received $4 million to help make the power grid more resilient. That number is going to go up,” he said [1].

He said he had asked Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm “to lead a supercharged effort across the entire Federal Government,” with a new “Puerto Rican Grid Recovery and Modernization team” [1].

Power, he said, was “now back, as you pointed out, Governor, at 92 percent—92 percent of the island” [1].

”$9.5 Billion”

On the flight down, a reporter questioned whether the $60 million in new flood-control money Biden was announcing would go far, noting that for Florida and South Carolina, “we’re talking about tens of billions” [3].

Criswell pointed to money already approved. “FEMA alone has authorized $9.5 billion to the commonwealth to restore their power grid from the impacts from Maria,” she said [3].

Another reporter relayed what people on the island were saying: “It has taken so long to rebuild after the 2017 storm, and sometimes we so often get left behind.” Criswell said the response to Fiona “was much better than what we saw during Maria” [3].

”Not FEMA Aid”

Jean-Pierre was asked about Vice President Kamala Harris. “Some Republicans criticized Vice President Harris’s comments about the role of equity in responding to the storm,” a reporter said, adding that critics took her to mean “that people of color will get an advantage of some kind with the rebuilding efforts” [3].

“So that is not what the Vice President said. The Vice President was clearly talking about long-term investment, not FEMA aid, for hurricane response efforts,” Jean-Pierre said [3].

”I Don’t Usually Talk This Fast”

Biden raced through the speech. “I don’t usually talk this fast, but it looks like it’s moving quickly,” he said in the middle of his remarks. At the end, he said it again: “And I usually don’t quite talk this fast, but it looks like we made it” [1].

He closed by calling up Rep. Nydia Velázquez, D-N.Y., who said she had nine brothers and sisters. Biden recalled his mother’s view of big families: “No purgatory for Mom. Straight to Heaven” [1].

By the Numbers

$4 million: what Biden said Puerto Rico had received for its power grid that year [1].
92%: the share of the island with power back, per Biden [1].
$37,900: the most in federal individual assistance for home repairs, per Biden [1].
$9.5 billion: what FEMA had authorized to restore the grid after Maria, per Criswell [3].
5 years: since Hurricane Maria [1].
About 90%: share of 1.47 million customers who lost power on New Year’s Eve 2024, per Luma Energy [4].

What Happened Next

The island went dark on New Year’s Eve. On Dec. 31, 2024, in Biden’s final weeks in office, Luma Energy, which runs the island’s power lines, “said nearly 90% of 1.47 million clients in Puerto Rico were left in the dark,” Fox News reported. The company blamed “a failure in an underground power line” [4].

The island “struggles with chronic power outages blamed on a crumbling power grid that was severely damaged by Hurricane Maria,” Fox reported [4].

Then it happened again. In April 2025, another island-wide blackout hit. “It’s the second massive blackout to hit Puerto Rico in less than four months,” Fox News reported. “Obviously, Luma still has work to do,” Gov. Jenniffer González said. “It is a shame for our people … that we have such an insufficient, mediocre system” [5].

Two days later, Biden toured Florida after Hurricane Ian; see HYGO News’ page on that visit. For the 2024 “garbage” backlash after a comedian’s Puerto Rico joke, see the page on Biden calling protesters “idiots”.