Whitehouse Statement on Trump’s Visits to North Carolina, California Communities Devastated by Climate Change

"If Donald Trump cared even one bit about the communities being ravaged by climate change, he wouldn't hold disaster aid hostage to his political whims, dismiss the climate crisis as a hoax, or pander to his Big Oil donors," said the EPW Ranking Member

Washington, D.C.-U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, issued the following statement after President Trump-while visiting communities recently devastated by climate change-fueled extreme weather events-announced he may abolish FEMA, leaving states to recover from natural disasters on their own, and threatened to withhold federal disaster aid from Los Angeles in order to extort political concessions:

"If Donald Trump cared even one bit about the communities being ravaged by climate change, he wouldn't hold disaster aid hostage to his political whims, dismiss the climate crisis as a hoax, or pander to his Big Oil donors. Instead, he'd tackle the carbon pollution driving these catastrophes and support U.S. clean energy dominance to lower energy costs for families. But from day one, Trump's priority has been rewarding his corrupt fossil fuel donors and sabotaging America's clean energy future. Now, he's exploiting the suffering caused by extreme weather to peddle his political agenda-proving once again he's all in for polluters and all out for the American people."