The House of Representatives is onto the Biden admin’s case. They believe the Democrats in the White House are up to no good.
And now Kevin McCarthy has announced new investigations that sent Joe Biden running for the hills.
The White House is encountering a challenge in the manner of of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who is preventing them from moving past President Joe Biden’s failing reaction to the Maui wildfires.
GOP critics argued that Biden had been negligent in handling the disaster as a result of the president’s decision to take a vacation in the midst of the devastation, which has cost the lives of 115 people with hundreds more still missing. When he appeared to give “no comment” to a reporter’s inquiry regarding the death toll, those allegations were exacerbated.
13 days after the wildfires started, Biden made his way to Hawaii last week in an effort to settle the matter. A few days later, his deputy press secretary said that the president was not able to hear the reporter’s yelled query.
McCarthy, meanwhile, is adamant on keeping the Biden administration’s behavior in the news. In addition to his plans to personally visit the island, which might happen as soon as this week, he suggested that Congress look into the disaster response.
The actions are not altogether unexpected. The Biden administration is being looked into on several fronts by House Republicans, from the failed withdrawal from Afghanistan to the surge of immigrants at the southern border, as they use their majority power. A probe into alleged wrongdoing involving the president appears to be moving toward an impeachment trial.
Although there has been no announcement regarding an inquiry into the wildfires, McCarthy told reporters that he is thinking about doing one after the House returns from its break in September.
“I’m very concerned about the response,” McCarthy asserted a week ago while touring an industrial facility in New York. “How could you lose that many Americans in today’s age? I’m going to be working with committees to investigate what went on so this never happens again.”
One day after the fire broke out on August 8, Biden directed “all available Federal assets” to help first responders, including agency and military support for response and rescue operations.
On August 10, he declared a major disaster in response to a pressing request from Hawaii lawmakers.
“We’re working as quickly as possible to fight these fires and evacuate residents and tourists. In the meantime, our prayers are with the people of Hawaii,” Biden stated at a White House event in Salt Lake City. “But not just our prayers: Every asset we have will be available to them.”
One component of that response was a one-time check for $700 to meet the “immediate needs” of the victims, but Republicans portrayed the aid—which was only one component of federal assistance—as an appallingly inadequate “slap in the face.”
As first responders battled to suppress the wildfires, which were made worse by a mix of strong winds and drought, more than a thousand homes were burned.
Biden eventually interrupted his Lake Tahoe vacation to see the damage and meet with first responders in an Aug. 21 trip that first wife Jill Biden joined. The White House claims that Biden delayed his visit to avoid impeding in the search and rescue mission.
He remarked at a community center in Lahaina, a historic town mostly destroyed by the wildfires, “Jill and I are here to grieve with you but also want you to know the entire country is here for you.”
However, he drew criticism for equating the destruction to his family’s 2004 kitchen fire, which he had previously exaggerated, and drawing comparisons between the two.
He quipped, “I almost lost my wife, my ’67 Corvette, and my cat,” before mentioning the 1972 collision that claimed the lives of his first wife and daughter.
“Only thing worse than losing someone is not [being] sure whether you’ve lost someone,” he said.
McCarthy’s trip gives Republicans another chance to make headlines about Biden’s catastrophe response before he heads to the Pacific for a G7 speaker’s meeting.
Stay tuned to the Federalist Wire.
