Tensions rise in Washington over US Texas flood deaths

Photo taken on Oct. 9, 2023 shows the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States. [Photo/Xinhua]

Tensions between Democrats and Republicans are on the rise amid the worst U.S. flooding event in recent memory.

That's because a key U.S. Democrat is demanding an investigation into whether staff shortages at a crucial government office contributed to mounting deaths in the deadly flooding event in the U.S. state of Texas.

Experts believe the floods, and a possible investigation, could pose political problems for U.S. President Donald Trump.

Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Darrell West told Xinhua: "The floods are a problem for Trump because his administration cut workers and budgets for those who forecast the weather and aid in disaster relief."

"It is the beginning of the hurricane season and there are likely to be a number of storms and high winds that harm people. What happened in Texas could end up happening in several different places around the country," West said.

"Trump says he wants to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency and have states handle their own disasters. But when there is tremendous damage and loss of life, states immediately turn to the federal government for assistance. His budget cuts in crucial areas will plague him for the rest of his time in office," West said.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer penned a letter Monday urging the Commerce Department to open an investigation into whether "staffing shortages at key local National Weather Service (NWS) stations contributed to the catastrophic loss of life and property during the deadly flooding."

"These are the experts responsible for modeling storm impacts, monitoring rising water levels, issuing flood warnings, and coordinating directly with local emergency managers about when to warn the public and issue evacuation orders," Schumer said in the letter.

Texas Democrat Joaquin Castro expressed concern over the issue in an interview Sunday with CNN.

"When you have flash flooding, there's a risk that you won't have the personnel to make that -- do that analysis, do the predictions in the best way," he said.

"And it could lead to tragedy. So, I don't want to sit here and say conclusively that that was the case, but I do think that it should be investigated," he said.

Clay Ramsay, a researcher at the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland, told Xinhua: "The National Weather Service has definitely been under attack by DOGE for months. In the Texas case, those local offices were not in as bad shape as some in other parts of the country, but they did have a couple of supervisors missing."

He was referring to the Department of Government Efficiency -- the group Trump created to cut government jobs he believed were not needed.

The NWS did get the key warnings out in a timely fashion, nonetheless, they predicted an event half the size of what happened. The NWS was also short of a person whose job it was to coordinate NWS warnings with state agencies so they would get passed on, Ramsay noted.

"Trump will find an underling to blame, so I don't think this event by itself will affect him much. It's also possible that the MAGA people will stop pressuring the NWS for a while. But the big question is: will there be a similar event every one or two months, so that a pattern becomes clear to the public?" Ramsay said.

Christopher Galdieri, a political science professor at Saint Anselm College, told Xinhua: "The problem Democrats face here is that they don't control any part of the federal government, so they cannot hold their own oversight hearings, etc."

"I think this sort of thing helps keep Trump unpopular and motivates Democratic voters and folks thinking about running next year. Depending on how this winds out in Texas it may also affect midterm elections in that state in particular," Galdieri said.