U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday said there is likely to be a Congressional investigation into the federal reaction to the wildfires in the Hawaiian island of Maui that have claimed more than 100 lives.
“We saw the devastation that happened in Maui,” he said. “I’m very concerned about the response. We still have hundreds of individuals that are missing.”
“I think there’s going to have to be a congressional investigation into the response of what happens,” Mr. McCarthy said at a briefing in Syracuse, New York.
The ensuing inferno leveled the historic resort town of Lahaina. According to the County of Maui’s update on Aug. 23, confirmed fatalities rose to 115, making it the nation’s deadliest wildfire in more than a century.
While the exact number of missing individuals is unclear, reports suggested over 1,000 remain unaccounted for in the wake of the disaster.
“How could we lose that many Americans in today’s age?” Mr. McCarthy said.
White House didn’t respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment by press time.
President Joe Biden, who is seeking re-election in 2024, came under fire for his initial response to the devastating wildfires. The criticism intensified after the president told reporters that he had “no comment” on the rising death tolls in Hawaii while he was vacationing in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
Federal Response
The White House has previously said the president acted quickly and kept in close touch with the governor and other emergency officials as the crisis unfolded.“I want to once again say, as the president said last week, that he and the First Lady are praying for families who are grieving their loved ones and for everyone who has suffered devastating losses of land and property as a result of the wildfires in Maui,” Ms. Jean-Pierre told reporters on Aug. 14.
“The president continues to stay closely engaged with his team and state and local officials to ensure a robust, whole-of-government response continues,” she added.
Asked whether the American people should see their president talking to officials via phone rather than seeing him vacationing on the beach, Ms. Jean-Pierre didn’t directly reply. But she added the president has been in contact with the White House pool reporters and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), chief Deanne Criswell.
“You all have gotten pool reports on who the president has connected with,” Ms. Jean-Pierre said.
“The [FEMA] Administrator was there for two whole days—two whole days on the ground, by the President’s request, to make sure that the government has what they have—the local government has what they have, the people of Maui have what they have. And that’s what you’re going to see,” she continued.
“When you talk about a dozen agencies on the ground, helping and assisting more than … hundreds of FEMA personnel, that’s what matters. ”
More than 1,000 federal officials remain on the ground to respond to the wildfires, according to the White House. The administration has distributed more than $8.5 million in aid to some 8,000 affected families, including $3.6 million in rental assistance, according to Ms. Criswell.
On Aug. 21, President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden traveled to Maui. President Biden told survivors of Hawaii’s wildfires that the nation “grieves with you” and promised that the federal government would help “for as long as it takes” Maui to recover from damage.
