Ted Cruz ensured Trump spending bill slashed weather forecasting funding
Ted Cruz has had quite a week. On Tuesday, the Texas senator ensured the Republican spending bill slashed funding for weather forecasting, only to then go on vacation to Greece while his state was hit by deadly flooding, a disaster critics say was worsened by cuts to forecasting.
Cruz, who infamously fled Texas for Cancún when a crippling winter storm ravaged his state in 2021, was seen visiting the Parthenon in Athens with his wife, Heidi, on Saturday, a day after a flash flood along the Guadalupe River in central Texas killed more than 100 people, including dozens of children and counselors at a camp.
The Greece trip, first reported by the Daily Beast, ended in time for Cruz to appear at the site of the disaster on Monday morning to decry the tragedy and promise a response from lawmakers.
“There’s no doubt afterwards we are going to have a serious retrospective as you do after any disaster and say, ‘OK what could be done differently to prevent this disaster?’” Cruz told Fox News. “The fact you have girls asleep in their cabins when flood waters are rising, something went wrong there. We’ve got to fix that and have a better system of warnings to get kids out of harm’s way.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/ted-cruz-ensured-trump-spending-225311392.html
'Lives are at stake:' Deadly Texas storms put spotlight on Trump's weather agency cuts
Deadly storms over the 4 July holiday ravaged Texas' Hill Country with several months' worth of rain in a few hours, leaving behind mangled trees, swaths of deep mud and heartbreak over hundreds lost or missing.
They also renewed focus on the US government's ability to warn and protect residents from weather catastrophes.
The intense rainfall and flash floods are the deadliest weather disaster in the US since President Donald Trump's administration conducted mass staff cuts at two key weather and climate agencies: the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Organisation (NOAA) and its subsidiary, the National Weather Service (NWS).
While experts say the National Weather Service issued alerts in a timely manner over the weekend, the deadly incident carries warnings about what could happen if the NWS and NOAA are not properly staffed and funded in the future.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/lives-stake-deadly-texas-storms-234501355.html
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