President Joe Biden pledged to "at some point" visit East Palestine, Ohio, the site of a Feb. 3 train derailment that launched toxic chemicals into the environment, The Hill reported.
"I've spoken with every official in Ohio, Democrat, and Republican, on a continuing basis, as in Pennsylvania," Biden told reporters Thursday. "We will be implementing an awful lot through the legislation here, and I will be out there at some point."
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre later could not confirm the president's comments that he made while leaving a lunch with Senate Democrats at the Capitol.
According to Jean-Pierre, she had no new travel plans to announce for Biden at the time.
Biden's indication that he would eventually visit comes as both Republicans and Democrats have blasted him for meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, Ukraine, while the crisis in East Palestine reached its peak.
The administration ordered Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael S. Regan to the town after the incident and has since activated Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel.
However, Biden was criticized for waiting nearly two weeks to send over Buttigieg and Regan. The FEMA aid also initially was denied, yet approved one day after former President Donald Trump announced his visit to East Palestine.
"While I am glad EPA Administrator Regan will visit the site today, it is unacceptable that it took nearly two weeks for a senior Administration official to show up," Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said in a Feb. 16 press release.
"The damage done to East Palestine and the surrounding region is awful, and it's past time for those responsible to step up to the plate," he added.
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