Biden isn’t providing Los Angeles wildfire victims only $770. Other federal aid is available.

On Jan. 13, President Joe Biden said Los Angeles wildfires victims qualified for one-time $770 payments to buy emergency supplies such as baby formula, water and medicine. 

"I encourage everyone — everyone who has been impacted to get assistance," Biden said. 

Some social media critics seized on the amount of aid Biden had enumerated. 

"Wow … a whole $770 for people who lost everything," read the caption in a Jan. 14 post that shared a clip of Biden’s announcement. 

Some social media users argued the administration wasn’t doing enough to support people who lost their homes and belongings to the flames — contrasting the $770 payment news with a far larger cost of foreign aid to Ukraine and Israel in recent years.

"Holy smokes," one Jan. 13 Instagram post read. "Biden announces the LA fire victims will receive a one-time payment of $770. He authorized $500M to Ukraine just last week."

People are free to criticize how U.S. officials direct federal dollars, but these posts and posts like them focus on the $770 payment as if it is the only assistance available to Los Angeles-area fire victims. That’s wrong.

These posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

(Screenshot from Instagram)

The video clips shared on Instagram showed a portion of Biden’s Jan. 13 remarks about the California wildfires. In his full remarks, Biden mentioned additional aid the federal government has extended to California, including a commitment to fully pay firefighting disaster response costs for about six months. Biden said that money would cover costs such as firefighter overtime pay, debris removal and temporary shelters for victims. 

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stated on January 8, 2025 in a post

The Los Angeles Police Department is “looking for three ‘persons of interest’ all tied to a MAGA website who were spotted at the source of all three major LA fires.”

Biden said he’d sent equipment including helicopters, tanker planes and fire engines to Los Angeles and had activated 500 U.S. Marines to help with search and rescue, airlife support and food and water distribution. 

Then, he mentioned the $770 payments. 

"We’re not waiting until those fires are over to be — to start helping the victims. We’re getting them help right now," Biden said. "People impacted by these fires are going to receive a one-time payment of $770 — a one-time payment — so they can quickly purchase things like water, baby formula and prescriptions." 

Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesperson Jayce Genco said the one-time $770 payment would come from FEMA’s Serious Needs Assistance program. It aims to cover the cost of immediate emergency supplies such as water, food, first aid, baby formula diapers and personal hygiene items. If people had to evacuate and stayed in hotels, it could go toward those costs or toward the cost of fuel needed to evacuate, he said. 

The $770 payment is the same as the one-time $750 payment that was available to 2024 hurricane victims — with a $20 annual cost of living increase, Genco said.

As of Jan. 13, almost 6,000 survivors had applied for the $770 payments and more than $5 million had been sent out, Biden said. 

It is inaccurate to characterize the $770 payment as the only aid available. Biden declared a major disaster, meaning that fire victims can get different types of federal individual assistance alongside the Serious Needs Assistance. 

"This is one of many programs that FEMA has to help people," Genco said. "Folks could be eligible for temporary housing. They could be eligible for repairs on their home. They could be eligible for some of the hazard mitigation assistance programs that we have." 

FEMA’s Individuals and Households Program supports disaster victims and can provide money for things such as temporary housing during disaster-related displacement and funds to repair or replace primary residences that were damaged, according to the agency’s website. The program can also provide money for future hazard mitigation. For people with wildfire-damaged homes, that might include the costs of covering attic and crawlspace vents or installing noncombustible gutters and leaf guards, FEMA said. 

People can apply for federal disaster assistance by visiting www.disasterassistance.gov or calling 1-800-621-3362.

We rate the claim that the Biden administration is providing only "$770 for people who lost everything" in the Los Angeles wildfires False.

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