Biden says Texas officials delayed request for Beryl federal aid
Biden says Texas officials delayed request for Beryl federal aid
Gov. Greg Abbott has spent the duration of the hurricane on a pre-scheduled trip to meet with foreign diplomats in Asia, leaving Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick as acting governor.
Texas is receiving federal aid for Hurricane Beryl later than needed because state leaders were slow to request an official disaster declaration from the White House, President Joe Biden told the Houston Chronicle Tuesday.
With Gov. Greg Abbott out of the country on an economic development trip in Asia, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has served as acting governor amid the storm, making him responsible for putting in the state’s request for aid.
A White House spokesperson told the Chronicle that officials had tried multiple times to reach Abbott and Patrick, and Biden said he only connected with Patrick Tuesday, after which he issued the disaster declaration. Beryl came ashore on Texas' Gulf Coast early Monday morning, bringing heavy rain and winds that wreaked havoc over Houston and other parts of southeast Texas.
Because our elected officials are terrible at their job, but keep getting elected because we have uneducated nut jobs ruining this state.
I wouldn't assume this was incompetence. It's Dan Patrick. While incompetence is always a possibility, vindictiveness is more likely. Whether he's just punishing people for the hell of it or if he's purposely targeting Houston residents because he hates them.
The rolling colostomy bag left for another fucking country while the hurricane hit. No wonder it was delayed.
It also hit Houston, a blue city, it's all about punishment.
The only people that will benefit from a Trump presidency will be billionaires and criminals make no mistake. Texas and Florida will get much worse.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Texas is receiving federal aid for Hurricane Beryl later than needed because state leaders were slow to request an official disaster declaration from the White House, President Joe Biden told the Houston Chronicle Tuesday.
Patrick wrote on social media that the president was "falsely accusing" him of being unreachable, while an Abbott spokesperson called Biden’s comments “a complete lie.”
Rafael Lemaitre, a former national director of public affairs for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Texas should have made its disaster appeal sooner, as widespread reports of power outages, deaths and property damage were "more than sufficient" to prompt the request.
The major disaster declaration from Biden allows federal officials to deploy a wide range of aid, including debris removal services, emergency supplies and repairing damaged infrastructure.
Politics have also regularly infused the response to past Texas storms, most recently when then-Land Commissioner George P. Bush, a Republican, feuded with then-Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, a Democrat, over Hurricane Harvey aid.
The political sparring came as millions of Texans remained without power as temperatures climbed into the 90s in parts of the state, one day after Beryl’s deadly winds and rain caused widespread damage.
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