Residents of eastern Palestine were outraged after President Joe Biden said on Saturday he had been too busy to visit their Ohio city, which was hit by a toxic train derailment seven months and a day ago.
On February 3, a freight train from Norfolk Southern skidded off the tracks, causing a massive fire that lasted several days.
While federal officials were immediately on the scene, it took 20 days for Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg to visit eastern Palestine, and Biden never scheduled a trip. In an attempt to show a contrast, former President Donald Trump flew to Ohio the day before Buttigieg’s appearance.
Seven months later, there was one resident who was interviewed by News Nation called Biden’s lack of interest “reprehensible,” especially after spending much of August on vacation.
Resident Tammy Tsai noted how Biden was “at his home in Rehoboth and Wilmington and Lake Tahoe to relax and have family time.”
‘He should have been here. He should help these people. He needs to learn how to pronounce the name of the city,’ Tsai said.
President Joe Biden was asked Saturday why he never visited eastern Palestine, Ohio. He was mapping the damage from Hurricane Idalia in Live Oak, Florida
When Biden was asked about Eastern Palestine on Saturday, he pronounced it “-stein” and not “-steen.”
“Well, I haven’t had the opportunity to go to Eastern Palestine yet. There’s a lot going on here, and I just haven’t been able to break it,” Biden said from Live Oak, Florida as he charted the damage from Hurricane Idalia.
“I was thinking about going to East Palestine this week, but then I was reminded that I literally have to go around the world. I’m going from – from Washington to India to Vietnam to – and so, it would be a while,” he continued.
“But we are making sure that eastern Palestine gets what they need materially to address their problems,” Biden added.
On Thursday, Biden leaves for the G20 summit in New Delhi, then makes a stop in Vietnam before returning to the US.
Before that, he is expected to travel to Montgomery, Pennsylvania on Wednesday, but the White House has not yet released additional details about that trip.
Monday marked seven months and one day since the East Palestine, Ohio train disaster and President Joe Biden has yet to make a trip to the city
He slipped on the trip to Florida to inspect the damage to Idalia before returning to Rehoboth Beach on Sunday.
Biden told reporters leaving the church that he was not on “vacation,” but that the Secret Service was making security improvements at his Wilmington home.
The president spoke briefly in Philadelphia Monday morning to mark Labor Day before spending several hours at the Wilmington home before returning to DC late Monday afternoon.
East Palestine resident Jamie Wallace said, “You know, right now I think it’s pointless to come,” of a future presidential visit.
“Just give us the federal aid we need,” she told News Nation. “You’ve already shown us how little you think of us, so coming now would only add to the insult, because we know he’d be forced to come here.”
She pointed to Biden’s Saturday trip to Florida.
“The only difference between eastern Palestine and a hurricane is that the hurricane never left from above us, it’s still there seven months later, it’s just invisible,” she said. “You can’t see the houses it destroyed, which are full of chemicals that people can’t live in.”
“If he doesn’t care enough about American citizens to come here and visit us, give us the support we need,” Wallace added.
(TagsToTranslate)dailymail