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JD Vance Has Not Forgotten the People of East Palestine, Even If Joe Biden Has

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  September 05, 2023 7:15 PM

It's now been over seven months since a train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, and President Joe Biden has still not been able to visit, despite saying he would It doesn't look like he'll get to it any time soon, either. From Florida on Sunday, Biden offered that "there is a lot going on here, and I just haven’t been able to break." Even if Biden seems to have forgotten the people of East Palestine, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) has made it his mission to make sure that they do not lack a voice.

On Monday, Vance spoke with Fox News' Bret Baier to reaffirm his support for the residents there, especially when it seems they don't have it from the president. As Baier mentioned, not only has Biden yet to visit, he's yet to issue a major disaster declaration.

"I think that he sees this community not as a Biden community, and therefore he's not doing anything for it. It is shameful conduct. When you're the president, you serve the people no matter who they voted for," Vance pointed out, also reminding that "East Palestine deserves much better from their government."

The senator did not mince words as he raised the idea that it's political for Biden. "There is no chance in hell that if the president of the United States saw this community as a community that supported him, saw it as foundational for his reelection prospects, that he would be ignoring it in the way that he has," he declared.

Meanwhile, former and potentially future President Donald Trump visited the area back on February 22, the day before Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg did. Trump has continued to criticize Biden's handling of East Palestine and Maui, where the president ultimately visited nearly two weeks after wildfires occurred there.

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Vance also spoke about how residents are worried about becoming sick if they spend too much time in the creek where toxic water still remains.

"If you go to East Palestine right now, you will see these giant vats where they're taking toxic water out of the creek bed, putting it in these vats, and hopefully over time the creek will get cleaner," Vance explained. There's still more to hope for, though. "But if you talk to residents on the ground, they still are worried that if they go spend too much time in the creek, maybe they'll start to feel some symptoms, some vertigo, some other issues."

When given the chance to offer a message to the people of East Palestine, Vance reminded them of his commitment. "Number one, you're not forgotten, and you're never going to be forgotten by me. Number two, keep on it, because I can't do my job, we can't hold Norfolk Southern's feet to the fire, and we can't get Washington to wake up unless we're hearing their stories.

Norfolk Southern had tragically prioritized climate activism over safety, documents show, as covered in an April 9 column for Townhall by James Taylor. 

The company was sued by Ohio in March, and residents have  put pressure on Norfolk Southern over safety concerns.

Vance is not only looking to offer comforting words to residents, though. He and Baier discussed The Railway Safety Act, a bipartisan bill which he introduced on March 1 along with Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Bob Casey, Jr. (D-PA), and John Fetterman (D-PA)

"It would give proper notice to the firefighters who are dealing with these hazardous materials. The second thing is, it would increase the safety inspection requirements so that these train crashes happen less frequently in the first place," Vance explained to Baier about the bill's cope.

It's not merely the Republican senator pointing to the loss and anger these people feel. Local residents also spoke to Fox News earlier on Monday, with "FOX & Friends" guest co-host Dr. Nichole Saphier.

Providing a real example to the scenarios mentioned by Vance above, resident Courtney Miller revealed that "I still have yet to take my kids into East Palestine," as "I'm still fearful of what it’s going to cause." In fact, most of the people she knows in the area have "ended up sick," and she has been staying in a motel since the derailment. Again, the derailment occurred seven months ago.

"I just still don’t feel comfortable," she said, once more bringing it back to Biden's absence. "And I don’t want to take my kids into something that obviously Biden doesn’t even want to show up" at.

As Leah highlighted late last month, the slowness of the Biden administration's EPA has prevented residents from being able to safely return home.