President Joe Biden on Tuesday accused Governor Greg Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick of being unreachable after Hurricane Beryl slammed Texas, saying the state’s leaders were slow in requesting a disaster declaration from the White House. The state’s leaders denied there was any delay and accused the president of playing politics with the disaster.
Patrick has been serving as acting governor during the natural disaster while Abbott is away on a weeklong economic-development trip in Asia. The temporary role makes Patrick, not Abbott, responsible for requesting federal aid. Biden told the Houston Chronicle that he had been trying to “track down” the governor to send help but could not connect with Patrick until Tuesday afternoon when the disaster-declaration request was ultimately granted.
“I’ve been trying to track down the governor to see — I don’t have any authority to do that without a specific request from the governor,” the president said. A White House spokesperson added that Abbott and Patrick were contacted multiple times.
Patrick rejected Biden’s allegation, revealing they had a “cordial call” with each other on Tuesday that ultimately resulted in the White House granting the acting governor’s request. Patrick maintained he was not unreachable, as Biden claimed, and argued that he was already cooperating with the Federal Emergency Management Agency throughout the crisis.
“He obviously did not know his own employees from FEMA were side-by-side with me for 3 days,” the Texas Republican wrote on social media. “All he had to do was call them and have them hand their phone to me. I even took a photo with them!”
Patrick said he needed time to determine what resources local officials needed in the areas impacted by Beryl, which he, in turn, accused Biden of turning into a “political issue.”
“To quote President Biden, this is a load of malarkey, and he’s shoveling it,” he concluded.
The disaster declaration, which includes power generators and other emergency supplies, will be sent to 121 counties, Texas Division of Emergency Management chief Nim Kidd said Tuesday.
Beryl reached southeast Texas early Monday, leaving over 2 million residents without power in the Houston area. More than 1.8 million customers remained without power Tuesday night as the storm exited Texas and left blistering heat in its wake.
Utility company CenterPoint promised it would try to restore electricity to 1 million customers by the end of Wednesday. Houston and Galveston were among the hardest-hit cities.
Abbott, who left Texas on Saturday before the Category 1 hurricane hit the state, confirmed he did not receive any calls from the president during Beryl.
“Biden’s memory fails again. Not once did he call me during Beryl,” Abbott posted on social media. “He has my number & called me on Memorial Day after tornadoes hit Texas. I’ve had daily calls with state & local officials during Beryl. I spoke with FEMA Admin while on our trade mission but Biden never called.”