Op-ed views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author. It was reported on Thursday that the Biden administration turned down a request for federal disaster assistance from Ohio Governor Mike DeWine. According to FEMA, the toxic chemicals released into the air, water, and soil in East Palestine, Ohio don’t qualify as a ‘traditional disaster’ — like a tornado or hurricane.
Does COVID qualify as a ‘traditional disaster?’ The answer, of course, is no but that didn’t prevent FEMA from shelling out more than $2.3 billion dollars to more than 351,000 people to assist with COVID-related funeral expenses.
Biden is refusing to provide federal assistance to the residents of East Palestine, Ohio for one reason — he doesn’t want to. Why?
Can FEMA not afford it? They were able to find more than $2 billion to cover funeral expenses for those families, who could meet the ‘strict’ requirement of ‘attributing’ the death to COVID on a death certificate. The deceased person didn’t even have to be a U.S. citizen.
FEMA was willing to cover the costs of transportation of the deceased, transfer of remains, caskets and urns, markers and headstones, clergy or efficient services, arrangements of funeral ceremonies, and even additional expenses mandated by local or state laws and ordinances. But that was for COVID — $2.3 billion to 351,000 people for funeral expenses.
But FEMA won’t dish out thousands to pay for water bottles for 4,000 people scooping up dead fish from their contaminated, rainbow-colored streams. What kind of country do we live in? It’s a rhetorical question.
We live in a country run by self-serving, callous, and sociopathic politicians, who view the suffering and pain of American citizens as an inconvenience. Congress will convene at 2 AM to pass emergency legislation to send billions of American tax payer dollars to Ukraine but they won’t lift a finger to provide American citizens in Ohio a penny.
They’ll jet off to Kyiv to meet with the former actor turned Ukrainian President Zelenskyy dressed in a designer sweatshirt and film themselves in tears. They’ll sit little Zelenskyy on their knee like Santa Clause, ask him for his wish list, and hurriedly send him American tanks and fighter jets without question.
But if you’re an American citizen suffering from the ecological disaster in East Palestine, you’ll get a visit from the Texas Republican Congressman Troy Nehls, who will film himself holding a glass of tap water from a local restaurant, and dismiss your concerns over contaminated water as ‘irresponsible.’
Ohioans are lucky and smart to have elected a champion in Senator JD Vance, but apparently, even U.S. Senators have little influence unless they’re lobbying for the needs of foreign non-citizens five thousand miles away — that’s how far Ukraine is from Ohio.
While the residents of East Palestine are burying their pets the Republican Senator Mitch McConnell’s top priority is explaining “to the American people that defeating the Russians in Ukraine is the single most important event going on in the world right now.” That’s what McConnell recently stated on FOX News.
According to McConnell, those silly residents in East Palestine are busy worrying about the short and long-term health effects of breathing in carcinogenic toxins from a botched cleanup effort of a derailed train. Little do they know that their real concern should be the war in Ukraine. McConnell hasn’t paid a visit to the disastrous scene in Ohio, but he has met with Zelenskyy in Ukraine.
If McConnell’s lack of interest in East Palestine doesn’t comfort residents, surely they found comfort in Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s recent support. Buttigieg hasn’t found the time to physically meet with residents but he did tweet that he continues to be “concerned.” Just how concerned is Pete?
Well, Pete went on FOX news and celebrated how far rail safety has evolved over the years and suggested that while what happened in Ohio was a “horrible situation,” “there are roughly 1,000 cases a year of train derailing.” Pete should apply that line to other disasters.
“Look, there are a lot of floods and hurricanes and tornadoes each year. This one’s horrible but it’s normal. It’s just getting blown out of proportion by media attention.”
The only thing worse than the actual disaster in East Palestine is the Government’s response to the disaster. Not long ago, disasters elicited non-partisan and collective unity. The worst disasters still managed to bring out the best in a divided America. Not anymore.
The Biden administration and even Republicans like McConnell and Nehl have abandoned the American citizen, even in times of great need.
Illegal immigrants are given cell phones, Ukrainians are given tanks, and American citizens in East Palestine are told to pound sand. The Biden administration has made it clear: you’re on your own and we care more about illegals and Ukrainians than the American people.
At this point, Americans would be better off living under the rule of King George III.