Kevin McCarthy vows to open investigations into Joe Biden’s response to the Maui fire
Speaker Kevin McCarthy vowed the house would probe what went wrong with the response to the Maui wildfires that have left 115 and over 1,100 missing.
‘I’m very concerned about the response,’ the speaker said during an appearance in upstate New York on Wednesday.
He went on: ‘We still have hundreds of individuals that are missing. I think there’s gonna have to be a congressional investigation in response of what happened. How could we lose that many Americans in today’s age? And the federal response seems very delayed.’
The California Republican then knocked the president for originally not offering comment and taking over a week to visit the devastation.
‘The president’s response – to have no comment? That’s unacceptable. So I’m going to work with committees too to look at investigating what went on so that never happens again as well.’
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy promised congressional investigations into the response to the Maui wildfires that have left 115 dead and over 1,000 still missing
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden greet first responders as they tour areas devastated by the Maui wildfires, Monday, Aug. 21
No single cause has yet been determined for the fires, but experts suggest power lines were not shut off despite high winds and may have caught fire when they fell.
The GOP-led House has launched oversight investigations into nearly everything under Democratic President Biden’s purview – from the Afghanistan withdrawal to the Biden family business dealings to a broad range of federal agencies.
The number of missing people in Maui ticked up to 1,110 on Wednesday – two weeks after the deadly inferno ripped through the island. Already the fire is the deadliest since the 19th century as the death toll is expected to rise.
The tourist town of Lahaina, home to 12,000 people, was all but wiped off the map, with over 3,000 structures burned to the ground and an estimated $5 billion’s worth of damage.
The FBI is working to release a list of the missing later this week – and is calling on relatives of the missing to send in DNA samples to help identify the charred bodies that have been discovered.
A new Associated Press report details how the only paved road out of a West Maui neighborhood and onto the highway was blocked off. Those who drove around the barricade were safe. Many of those who were caught up in a pile-up just behind the blockade died in their cars while others tried to run for safety.
Meanwhile, Maui’s top emergency management official resigned last week after finding himself in hot water for failing to sound the island’s alarm system as the blaze closed in.
Herman Andaya, the administrator of the Maui Emergency Management Agency, had defended his decision not to sound the alarms as he said he feared coastal residents would think the ringing signaled a tsunami and flee inland toward the flames.
‘The public is trained to seek higher ground in the event that the siren is sounded,’ he said.
In slow signs of recovery, Maui public schools began the process of reopening and highways have allowed traffic again as of Wednesday. Additional cadaver dogs arrived that day to help teams searching for the remains of the dead.
But cell service and access to electricity has been spotty at best, and survivors say they’ve struggled to find housing, medical aid and daily necessities.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has pledged one-time $700 payments for necessities to nearly households affected by the fires – and over 6,000 have applied so far.
DailyMail.com revealed on Wednesday that FEMA responders dispatched to Maui have been lodging in luxury at $1,000-a-night hotels a 45 minute drive away from fire-ravaged town of Lahaina.
FEMA surged up to 1,000 agents to the Hawaiian island to assist with the response, and teams have checked in at three five-star hotels – the Fairmont Kea Lani, Four Seasons, and the Grand Wailea Astoria where past guests include members of Hollywood’s elite.
And amid growing criticism at the perceived lack of federal support, Biden and First Lady Jill visited Maui on Monday – and were met with mixed reactions.
FEMA’s search and rescue team member works in a residential area consumed by a wildfire in Lahaina, Hawaii
The visit was always going to be contentious, and the president’s motorcade was drove past both boos and jeers, with some showing their middle finger and waving Trump 2024 flags.
The president’s speech promised Maui the federal government’s support would be ‘with you as long as it takes.’
‘The country grieves with you, stands with you, and we’ll do everything possible to help you recover, rebuild, and respect culture and traditions when the rebuilding takes place.’
But otherwise Biden did little to endear himself to the traumatized islanders, delivering a rambling speech referencing the death of his wife and baby daughter in 1972, and later telling an anecdote about a 2004 kitchen fire in his Delaware home.