Former Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke Beto O'RourkeWillie Nelson says there's always a new politician to hate Poll: Biden notches higher approval rating in Texas than Gov. Abbott Progressive group's poll finds Trump underwater in Texas after riot MORE blamed Republican leaders in Texas for what he says was a failure to prepare for widespread power outages resulting from a massive winter storm that swept across the state this week.
"So much of this was avoidable," O'Rourke said during an appearance Tuesday on MSNBC. "Going back to the deregulation of our electric grid here in Texas, which has actually created an incentive to not weatherize or protect against these events."
The onetime congressman from El Paso said Republicans who run the state are too busy worrying about "stupid" cultural issues like the debate over the national anthem before NBA games or efforts to make Texas a "sanctuary state" for companies and people fleeing states with more liberal policies on issues like guns and immigration.
"The energy capital of North America cannot provide enough energy to warm and power people's homes," O'Rourke said. "We are nearing a failed state in Texas. And it has nothing to do with God or natural disasters. It has everything to do with those in positions of public trust who have failed us."
Several people have died and tens of thousands have been left in the dark and cold since Sunday evening after a winter storm moved through a large swath of the state earlier this week.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has mobilized the National Guard as some residents scramble to get the sick and elderly to warming centers amid record-setting cold temperatures in much of the state.
State officials have not offered a prediction as of Wednesday morning about when power might be restored to affected areas.
Several power companies in the state have warned that "additional outages" may still occur.
“To go through all of that and then also to have stuff like this happen, it’s like, ‘One more historical event, and I’m going to develop PTSD,’” Brianna Blake, a mother of two sons, told the Texas Tribune. “I cannot do this.”
"The Electric Reliability Council of Texas has been anything but reliable over the past 48 hours,” Abbott said in a statement issued on Tuesday. “Far too many Texans are without power and heat for their homes as our state faces freezing temperatures and severe winter weather. This is unacceptable."
O'Rourke said state officials' response proves Abbott and other Republicans do not have their priorities in order.
"We know this stuff is coming," he said of natural disasters. "What we don't know is whether our leaders are ready to make the tough political decisions to prepare us for that."
CobraCommanding on February 17th, 2021 at 15:15 UTC »
Ted Cruz voted hard no on Hurricane Sandy relief
buddah_on_lotus on February 17th, 2021 at 13:11 UTC »
This has been a nightmare. Families freezing as temp dropped to as low as 12 F in Houston, which rarely sees temps below 45. No gas. No way to get groceries. Roads closed. Hotels full. People's water pipes bursting. People getting carbon monoxide poisoning. Families with infants and small children or elderly. All this time Centerpoint Energy mishandling the simple idea of rolling blackouts. Some people I know have been out since Sunday. Others, been off and on up to four times. We are on now after 36 hours but for how long I cant say. I expect any minute now to go dark again. And another ice storm on the way to right or tomorrow. Meanwhile that idiot Greg Abbot is blaming windmills.
Uhhhhlisha on February 17th, 2021 at 13:01 UTC »
We knew their infrastructure was crap when Harvey happened. Now this. My dad is still talking about “add DC and we will secede” and “Texas will have its own refinery and oil and jobs and wealth” and I clapped back that he better call his state representatives to pull that hand back for federal aid.