From paper towels to hugs and help: Lawmaker details the difference between Dems and GOP on disaster relief
September 07, 2021
One New Jersey lawmaker can't help but notice the stark contrast in approach between how Republicans and Democrats handle natural disasters.
President Joe Biden spent a day in Louisiana talking to those who survived Hurricane Ida. Tuesday he visited New Jersey and New York viewing the damage there.
Rep. Donald Norcross (D-NJ) on Tuesday spoke to MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace, and the two discussed the impact climate change has had on the country just in the past few years with natural disasters growing more serious and more severe.
Floods washed away a town in Tennessee. Another hurricane took out southern Louisiana and Mississippi and left a damage path all the way up to Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. Meanwhile, Wallace noted that the California fires have now reached Lake Tahoe, which generally doesn't experience the severe level of drought needed for such massive fires.
She asked Norcross why the arguments over protecting people from these disasters are still so partisan.
"That's something we ask literally every day," said Norcross. "Through common-sense issues and science, it's what we all know. We see the evidence just this last week as the storm came and wreaked havoc. So, when Sandy came through some years ago, that was the first big wake-up call that we have big problems here. The infrastructure is not supporting these types of storms that are happening more and more frequently."
Wallace recalled the way that after Sandy hit New Jersey President Barack Obama met Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ), hugging him as he arrived.
"There is a history in this country of national disasters and tragedies," said Wallace. "I mean the loss of human life was completely unexpected, completely devastating to my home of New York City."
She asked if there is any possibility of the two parties coming together to make history and actually agree to deal with the problem that climate change is causing.
Associated Press reporter Jonathan Lemire recalled how former President Donald Trump politicized natural disasters and noted that there is little chance of Republicans being willing to work with Biden on anything.
"We all come together. We're one America," said Norcross. "However, it seems like it only runs one way. When Sandy hit the amount of Republicans that wouldn't vote for disaster relief for New Jersey was unbelievable. And then when it hits their state they want us to help them. We've got to come together. This is just insane. People are dying."
Biden addressed the nation Tuesday afternoon making a case for both climate change and his infrastructure package explaining that the protections are desperately needed to ensure people can survive the future.
"People are beginning to realize this is much much bigger than anyone was willing to believe even the climate skeptics are seeing this really does matter," said Biden addressing the nation.
The contrast between the two situations as they played out on television didn't go unnoticed by those online.
See the video below:
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