Ohio train derailment: House Republican calls on Biden to visit East Palestine
Juliegrace Brufke
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Rep. Bill Johnson (R-OH) called on President Joe Biden to visit East Palestine, Ohio, in the wake of a toxic chemical train derailment that has sparked health and safety concerns, stating that residents affected by the incident deserve to hear from the commander in chief during a press conference on Tuesday.
Johnson, who represents the district that includes East Palestine, argued it is “past time” that Biden hear concerns from his constituents firsthand, adding that the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on the Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials, which he leads, will hold a hearing on this matter next month.
“Mr. President, it’s past time for you to make the short trip to East Palestine and show up for the 5,000 Americans who call that little small Appalachian village home,” he told reporters.
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“You pride yourself on your Lunch Bucket Joe nickname and your blue-collar Scranton, Pennsylvania, roots, but there is nowhere more blue collar than northeast Ohio and no people more deserving of hearing from their president right now. They want comfort. They want to know you care, and they want commitment. They want your assurance that the federal government will see this cleanup through,” he added.
Johnson said that his subcommittee panel’s first hearing on the train derailment will not be held in Ohio but plans to have a field hearing at a later date.
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“We’re going to have a field hearing in East Palestine at some point. Right now, the residents of that community want the workers to get that place cleaned up. The last thing they want is a circus of politicians coming there to get what they determined to be a photo-op,” he continued. “I’ve been there on the ground nearly nonstop. I was there virtually every day during the two-week district work period. I will be back again when I go back to Ohio. But we’ll do a field hearing there at the right time, when the residents are ready for it.”