Biden Visits Texas, Touts Bipartisanship While Surveying Winter Storm Damage

President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden flew to Houston on Friday as the state of Texas tries to recover from a winter storm that caused widespread blackouts and claimed the lives of over a dozen residents.

This is Biden's first trip as commander in chief to a major disaster area since he took office. According to Associated Press, Biden met with state and local officials at the Harris County Emergency Operations Center in Houston, and he was briefed about the recovery efforts.

Biden lauded them, and he promised to help the Texans not just to recover from the historic winter storm but also on public health and economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Biden was joined for much of his visit by Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Sen. John Cornyn, both Republicans. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, and four Democratic Houston-area members of Congress also joined the president.

White House Press Secretary, Jen Psaki, said that this was not a partisan issue for the president, adding that Biden does not view the crisis and the millions of people who have been affected by the severe weather condition as a Democratic or Republican issue.

"He views it as an issue where he's eager to get relief, to tap into all the resources in the federal government, to make sure the people of Texas know we're thinking about them, we're fighting for them, and we're going to continue working on this as they're recovering," Psaki said in Click 2 Houston report.

Biden, himself, also said that when a crisis hits a state, it is not a Republican or Democrat that is hurting.

"It's our fellow Americans that are hurting and it's our job to help everyone in need," Biden said in the Associated Press report.

Biden, a Democrat, noted that he and Abbott and Cornyn might disagree on many things, "but there are plenty of things we can work on together" and "one of them is represented right here today, the effort to speed up vaccinations."

After his Harris County Emergency Operations Center stops, Biden and the first lady toured a local food bank to thank volunteers.

Damages Brought by the Winter Storm in Texas

First lady Jill joined an assembly line of volunteers packing boxes of quick oats, juice, and other food at the Houston Food Bank.

Tens of thousands of Houston area residents are still without safe water, according to local officials. At least 40 people in Texas died due to the storm, while more than one million residents are still under orders to boil water before drinking it despite the weather returning to normal temperatures.

Biden's last stop after touring several locations was the FEMA vaccine super-site at NRG Stadium. In his remarks there, he noted that "there's nothing partisan" about the virus, adding that the U.S. will hit a critical phase in the effort to fight the virus "this spring." As the vaccines become more widely available, Biden noted that vaccine hesitancy would continue to persist.

Meanwhile, Ted Cruz, another Texas Republican senator, was in Florida on Friday addressing the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Cruz is a known ally of former President Donald Trump and was among GOP lawmakers who had objected to Congress certifying Biden's win.

Cruz has received backlash after traveling with his family last week to Cancún, Mexico as Texans were in crisis, according to an NBC News report. He then returned home within hours of landing in Mexico and apologized for the trip, calling it a "mistake."

Biden declared the major disaster in the state of Texas last weekend. He signified earlier that he was interested in visiting the state but said that he would wait until his presence would not be a burden to the state's recovery.