WASHINGTON — For the previous 4 years, President Joe Biden has got down to survey the injury and console victims of tornadoes, wildfires and tropical storms. That’s not a job Kamala Harris performed as vp.
But on Wednesday, each will journey throughout the Southeast to handle injury from Hurricane Helene, in search of to exhibit dedication and experience in serving to communities devastated after Donald Trump’s false claims about their administration’s response. Biden will head to North and South Carolina, whereas Harris will head to Georgia.
Harris’ cease can even function a political take a look at within the midst of a humanitarian disaster. He is making an attempt to tackle the position Biden is greatest identified for — exhibiting the empathy Americans count on in instances of tragedy — within the closing phases of his presidential marketing campaign.
She final visited pure catastrophe scenes as a California senator, together with when she went to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria in 2017 and when she walked by way of charred wreckage in Paradise, California, after the camp fireplace in 2018.
Trump, the Republican nominee, traveled to Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday with a Christian charity that introduced vans filled with gas, meals, water and different provides.
After arriving, Trump accused Biden of “sleeping” and never returning calls from Gov. Brian Kemp, R-Ga. However, Kemp had spoken to Biden the day earlier than and the governor mentioned the state was getting all the pieces it wanted.
Biden was enraged by Trump’s declare, saying Trump was “mendacity and the governor informed him he was mendacity.”
On Tuesday, the president mentioned he had directed administration officers to “ship each out there useful resource” to the communities harmed by Helene. The demise toll has approached 160 individuals and in some locations electrical energy and mobile companies are nonetheless unavailable.
“We want to begin this restoration course of,” he mentioned. “People are scared to demise. This is pressing.”
The president will fly to Greenville, South Carolina, and watch the storm’s aftermath from the air earlier than heading to Raleigh, North Carolina, for a briefing.
Trump claimed with out proof that Democratic leaders had been withholding support to Republican areas, a cost that greatest describes his strategy to catastrophe aid. He just lately threatened that he would withhold firefighting help from California resulting from disagreements with Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.
When Trump was president, Puerto Rico was devastated by Hurricane Maria, which killed 3,000 individuals. His administration waited till the autumn of 2020, simply weeks earlier than the presidential election, to commit $13 billion to help Puerto Rico’s restoration. A federal authorities watchdog additionally discovered that Trump administration officers obstructed an investigation into delays in support supply.
And throughout a go to there, he was criticized for throwing rolls of paper towels at survivors at a aid centre. The gesture gave the impression to be effectively obtained within the room, however was broadly criticized as insensitive to these struggling. He additionally questioned whether or not the demise toll was correct, claiming it rose “like magic.”
Harris visited Puerto Rico after Maria as a part of a bipartisan delegation.
“When a catastrophe strikes wherever in America, our authorities has a essential accountability to commit the assets needed to save lots of lives, precisely assess injury, and rebuild communities,” he wrote on Twitter in 2018. “We now know that after the Hurricane Maria, our authorities has failed Puerto Rico on each degree.”
Last month, on Maria’s seventh anniversary, Harris recalled talking with Puerto Ricans who had misplaced companies and houses.
“They did not want paper towels thrown at them — they wanted actual assist and cooperation,” he mentioned.
