Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) blasted President Joe Biden for saying he would not visit East Palestine, Ohio, weeks after the train derailment.
Vance suggested Biden is more concerned about advancing a woke agenda than caring for his constituents.
“I would like to see the president just care. These are his fellow citizens. These are people suffering because of this problem. The president seems to be concerned about every manner of woke issue,” Vance told Fox News’s Jesse Watters on Monday. “He is concerned about what’s going on overseas. That’s all fine and good, but he has got to be concerned about his own citizens here close to home.”
“This is a guy, Joe Biden, who pretends to be the defender of the forgotten American, the working people in this country,” the Ohio senator continued. “There is no group of harder-working people than the citizens of East Palestine. Their president ought to show up and show that he cares about them.”
Vance noted that the people of East Palestine would face struggles financially and with their health for years to come.
“If we can bail out the Wall Street banks, if we can send $120 billion to the country of Ukraine, surely we can spare some [money] for some of our own citizens whose town has been affected through no fault of their own,” Vance said.
“If you think about it, these people just want to know that they’re safe. That their kids are safe,” Vance added. “The only way to really give them that confidence is to actually ensure they have access to the testing that they need so that if God forbid, they have health problems down the road, we can say with confidence this comes from the chemical problem. You have to get compensated for it. You have to be made whole because of it. I think if we can do that, give people confidence in their health and their children’s health, that’s how you bring East Palestine back.”
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On Friday, Biden said he had no plans to make a visit to Ohio, saying he had placed a Zoom video conference call and was “keeping close tabs on it.”
Local leaders said they did not participate in a Zoom call with the president, however. While calls from the White House have taken place, East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway said he has never heard from the president.