As residents of Maui endure among the charred ashes of their lives and mourn those dead and missing, Federal Emergency Management Agency officials sent to the island are living in luxury far from the scenes of devastation.
Wildfires ravaged Maui this month, leading to at least 115 deaths, with more than 800 people listed as missing and thousands left homeless.
FEMA officials are staying at three five-star hotels, the Fairmont Kea Lani, Four Seasons, and the Grand Wailea Astoria, according to the Daily Mail.
Federal government rates for those resorts start at $1,000 a night, the Mail wrote, citing what it said were company sources.
FEMA officials splashing taxpayer cash on $1,000-a-night Maui hotels https://t.co/EjHcr9COwH via @MailOnline
— Too-Much-Information (@TooMuchInform14) August 22, 2023
The big spending comes as President Joe Biden has announced on social media that Maui families impacted by the fire can receive “a one-time $700 payment per household offering relief during an unimaginably difficult time.”
The Mail reported that FEMA officials are also based at the four-star Marriott Wailea Beach Resort, starting at $531 per night, citing what it called a company insider as its source.
Although the damage FEMA is dealing with took place in Lahaina on the northwest corner of the island, FEMA’s staff are staying in Wailea, about 45 minutes away on the southern edge of the island.
Do you think Biden responded appropriately to the Maui wildfires?
Yes: 2% (1 Votes)
No: 98% (41 Votes)
FEMA officials are spending $1K/night on luxury hotel rooms in Maui, compared to the pathetic $700/household the dictator on permanent vacation, Biden, has allotted these poor ppl to try and survive!!!
— Kerri Henson (@kh4au) August 22, 2023
The Mail quoted a source it named as Kaleo, a local government employee, who called the lavish digs for FEMA workers “selfish.”
“Shouldn’t they stay closer to the site, instead of staying across on the other side of the island?” he said.
The Mail said it asked FEMA for comment on the resorts it is using but received no reply.
Revelations of FEMA’s big spending came in the aftermath of Biden’s visit to the island, in which he spoke of an accident that damaged his house.
“I don’t want to compare difficulties, but we have a little sense, Jill and I, of what it was like to lose a home,” Biden said, according to Fox News.
“Years ago now, 15 years, I was in Washington doing ‘Meet the Press’ … lightning struck at home on a little lake outside the home, not a lake, a big pond. It hit the wire and came up underneath our home into the … air condition ducts. To make a long story short, I almost lost my wife, my ’67 Corvette and my cat,” he added.
Biden appears to briefly fall asleep during a ceremony in Maui honoring the hundreds of people who died.
Here is how Biden’s trip to Maui went:
– Upon arriving, Biden joked about how hot the ground was.
– Biden later brought up his son Beau Biden.
– He also told a debunked… pic.twitter.com/DcbuwZjGgh
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) August 22, 2023
“I think it was a little bit tone-deaf,” Maui resident Amanda Cassidy said on “Fox & Friends.”
“However, I can understand how he was trying to meet us somewhere and say, ‘I understand,’ but unfortunately that is nothing that compares to what happened to our community, our beautiful little town and the families of children that were lost and disabled and the elderly. I mean, a car and your kitchen is kind of just a little sad to hear,” she said.
“I think people really want to see you show up for us and provide an eighth of what you’re giving to Ukraine. It’s outrageous. Lahaina is so hurt right now and that was tone-deaf,” Cassidy said.
Fellow Maui resident Etan Krupnick, called Biden’s visit a “multimillion-dollar photo op.”
“We could’ve used that money directly to Lahaina, to house more of the families for a longer stay because the rebuild of their homes isn’t going to take three months … it’s going to be about at least six months just to clean up the area, and we’re still looking for family and friends that are still lost, and we’re going to mourn them. And it’s just it’s a huge mess right now,” Krupnick said.
