Biden declares major disaster in Texas as focus shifts to who is responsible
Source: Washington Post
President Biden on Saturday approved a major disaster declaration for Texas, making available a wider range of federal assistance to help those affected by the severe winter storm. Biden had already approved states of emergency in Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas, following severe winter storms that have pummeled the south this week, killing dozens of people and initially rendering millions without power, heat or potable water.
Biden’s declaration allows individuals and business owners in Texas to apply for federal emergency aid, including grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses and other recovery programs. Around 80,000 electric utility customers in Texas remained in the dark and without heat Saturday morning as the state awoke to temperatures in the 20s. More than 14 million people in 160 counties were still experiencing water-service disruptions as of Friday night, and the impacts of the week’s Arctic cold blast stretched to Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee and beyond.
Temperatures are rising but the week’s icy weather is still taking its toll on Texas infrastructure. Houston, the nation’s fourth-largest city, was under a boil-water advisory Friday evening. Much of Austin, Texas’s capital, lacked running water, and officials could not say when it might return. “This has just been one thing after another,” Austin Mayor Steve Adler (D) told CNN on Friday. “This is a community of people that are scared, and upset, and angry. We’re eventually going to need some better answers to why we’re here."
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has so far provided generators, drinking water, food and other supplies to Texas. Biden on Friday told acting FEMA administrator Robert J. Fenton Jr. he was ready to mobilize other federal agencies to help those in the state in critical need, according to a White House readout of the call. Biden also said earlier Friday that he would like to visit Texas soon, “but I don’t want to be a burden.”
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/02/20/winter-storms-texas-weather-updates/
Full headline: Biden declares major disaster in Texas as focus shifts to who is responsible for the winter weather crisis
I hope the red-leaning/un-engaged Texans remember who, once again, came to help (and in the past has helped with trying to get back on one's feet after hurricanes and floods and whatnot). The millions of blue Texans KNOW!
= new reply since forum marked as read
the dramatic Horshack sound version!
It had some really iconic characters. 
We saw what happens when Democrats get the opportunity or impetus/reminders TO vote - like in GA & AZ and earlier in NV and even VA.
Both TX and NC need that literal door-to-door canvassing, and in the case of TX, the Democratic Latinx community must be involved and engaged heavily from the outset.
ETA - and I'll add FL and OH to the list too because they initially voted for Obama his first term, so the potential is there save for all the voter suppression that went into overdrive after that happened in 2008.
