HOUSTON (AP) – President Joe Biden’s public empathy has been on display on his journey to a major disaster site since he took office just over a month ago. The president and his wife, Jill, are in Texas to map out the damage caused by severe winter weather and encourage people to get their coronavirus shots.
The brutal winter weather in the South on Valentine’s Day weekend has ravaged multiple states, with Texas taking the brunt of unusually frigid conditions that caused widespread power outages and frozen pipes that burst and flooded homes. Millions of residents lost heat and running water.
At least 40 people in Texas died as a result of the storm and although it has returned to more normal temperatures, more than 1 million residents are still ordered to boil water before drinking it
“The president has made it very clear to us that in these crises, it is our duty to organize prompt and competent federal assistance to US citizens, and we must ensure that bureaucracy and politics do not get in the way,” said Homeland Security. Consultant Liz Sherwood-Randall, who accompanied Biden to Houston
Biden planned to meet with local leaders to discuss the storm, relief efforts and progress towards recovery, and to visit a food bank and meet with volunteers. He was to be joined by the Republican Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott.
While in Houston, the Democratic president also planned to visit a massive coronavirus vaccination center at NRG Stadium run by the federal government. On Thursday, Biden commemorated the 50 millionth vaccination against COVID-19 since he took office, halfway through his goal of 100 million shots in office by his 100th day. That celebration followed a moment of silence to mark the passage of 500,000 American dead earlier this week to blame for the disease.
The post-storm debate in Texas focused on the state’s maintenance of its own power grid and the lack of storm preparedness, including weather resilience of key infrastructure. Some government officials initially blamed the power outages on renewable energy, even though Texas is a major user of fossil fuels such as oil and gas.
Sherwood-Randall said it remains up to Texas to support its utilities.
“In essence, the first decision has to be made by the state of Texas about what kind of energy system it wants to maintain, what kind of energy market it wants to maintain,” she said.
The White House said Biden’s purpose in his visit would be to support, not insult.
“I expect on this trip today that he will ask everyone he sees what you need, how else can I help you,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki. And what else can we get you from the federal government? And it is important to him that he does that personally on site, he has that direct involvement. “
Biden has declared a major disaster in Texas and has asked federal agencies to find additional resources to support the recovery. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has sent emergency generators, bottled water, ready meals, and blankets.
Judge Mark Henry in Galveston County said in an interview that he did not know what else the federal government could do to help because the failures were at the state level. But Henry, a Republican who is the highest-ranking official in the Houston suburbs, said if Biden “thinks it’s important to visit him, come down.”
Biden wanted to make the trip last week, but said at the time that he was backing down because he didn’t want his presence and entourage to detract from the recovery effort.
Biden, whose life has been marked by personal tragedy, is known for his ability to empathize with others and their suffering. His first wife and daughter died in a car accident in 1972. His son, Beau Biden, died of brain cancer in 2015 at the age of 46.
Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn planned to join Biden, a spokesman said.
Senator Ted Cruz, an ally of former President Donald Trump and one of the few GOP lawmakers who objected to Congress certifying Biden’s victory, was in Florida to address the Conservative Political Action Conference
Cruz was recently criticized for bringing his family to Cancun, Mexico, while millions of Texans shivered in their unheated homes during the disaster. Cruz later said the trip was a mistakeCruz explained his slip to the CPAC crowd.
“Orlando is great,” he said, laughing and screeching. “It’s not as beautiful as Cancun. But it is fun. “
Houston was also the destination for Trump’s first presidential visit to a disaster area in 2017 after Hurricane Harvey triggered catastrophic flooding in August.
Trump, who is not known for his empathy, did not meet any storm victims on the visit. He returned four days later, urging people who had moved to a shelter to “have fun.”
Associated Press writers Jill Colvin, Zeke Miller and Aamer Madhani contributed to the reporting.