Vice President Kamala Harris has attempted to insert herself into the federal government's response to two recent hurricanes that hit the Southeast and, in the process, politicized that response with accusatory critiques of elected Republican leaders, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and, more subtly, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).

Yet, President Joe Biden just undercut Harris' partisan gambit by speaking well of various Republican leaders in the impacted areas and Congress, including Gov. DeSantis and Speaker Johnson, according to ABC News.

Perhaps most infuriating for Harris is that she was seated at the same table with Biden as he directly contradicted her critical remarks about various GOP figures a few days earlier.

Biden speaks kindly of Republican leaders

On Friday at the White House, President Biden and VP Harris were briefed by pertinent Cabinet officials about the damage caused and subsequent relief efforts in response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

In his prepared remarks, Biden praised state and local leaders in the impacted areas, most of whom are Republicans, and asserted that everyone was working well together to do what needed to be done.

Later, while taking questions from reporters, the Democratic president again heralded those same Republican leaders for their public statements to quell "misinformation" about a supposed lack of federal assistance for the natural disasters.

Asked if he'd spoken yet with Speaker Johnson, who Biden and others have called upon to reconvene Congress to provide more funding for disaster relief, Biden said, "No, I haven’t -- but we’re going to -- I’ve spoken to Republicans who want to speak to Speaker Johnson. And I think Speaker Johnson is going to get the message that he’s got to step up, particularly for small businesses."

As to whether he planned to meet with Gov. DeSantis during an upcoming visit to survey the damage in Florida, Biden replied, "I -- I’ve spoken to him. If he’s a- -- if he’s available, yeah. He’s been very cooperative. I’ve had no -- we’ve had -- we got on very, very well."

Johnson says make do with what you have for now

President Biden may want to go ahead and make that call to Speaker Johnson, if he hasn't already, as the top Republican in the House made it clear on Friday that he has no plans to reconvene Congress until after the election to consider a measure to bolster disaster relief funding, as he believes there are still ample funds available for now, according to Politico.

"To be clear: Congress will act again upon its return in November to address funding needs and ensure those impacted receive the necessary resources," Johnson's spokesperson Athina Lawson said. "In the meantime, the Administration needs to focus on getting the existing and sufficient disaster relief out to the millions of Americans in dire need and work to assess the extent and nature of the damage. Until the Administration does the work to provide an assessment, any action by Congress will be premature."

The outlet noted that Congress just provided an additional $20.3 billion for disaster relief in a funding bill passed last month, and despite claims from Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas and others that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was nearly broke, it was recently revealed that FEMA has around $9 billion in unused funds from other projects that could be tapped if necessary.

Harris' manufactured feud with DeSantis

As for President Biden undercutting VP Harris' partisan attack on Gov. DeSantis, NBC News reported earlier this week that, per the Harris campaign, the governor's office had rejected the VP's offers of assistance for political reasons.

"Moments of crisis, if nothing else, should really be the moment that anyone who calls themselves a leader says they're going to put politics aside and put the people first," Harris said in a statement aimed at DeSantis. "People are in desperate need of support right now and playing political games with this moment in these crisis situations, these are the height of emergency situations, it's just utterly irresponsible and it is selfish."

In response, according to The Hill, the Florida governor said the vice president "has no role in this process. And I’ve been dealing with these storms in Florida under both Trump and Biden. Neither of them ever politicized it. And, in fact, all the storms I’ve dealt with under this administration, although I’ve worked well with the president, she has never called in Florida. She has never offered any support."

"So, what she’s doing is she’s trying to inject herself into this because of her political campaign," he added. "So, as the governor here, who’s leading this, I don’t have time for those games. I don’t care about her campaign. Obviously, I’m not a supporter of hers."