Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has mocked Texas on Sunday as the state suffers a crisis caused by record-breaking weather.
When ice and snow moved into Texas last week, millions of Americans were forced to live in the dark and cold for days.
Texas is the only state in the US that has an energy grid which is independent of the federal grid.
The NY Democrat lashed out and said he hopes Texas “has learned a lesson,” attributing its energy problems to “ignoring climate change.”
“Texas believed it could do it alone and build a system that ignored climate change,” Schumer said in Manhattan.
“It was not resilient, and now they are paying the price,” he said. “I hope they learn their lesson.”
Schumer then slammed Texas officials for not considering the effects of climate change when making their power systems.
“When we build for energy, when we build anything, we must remember climate change is there, or people will get caught like the people in Texas are,” Schumer said.
“When I created the Hurricane Sandy legislation, we got $60 billion for New York, and we ensured all of what we built was resilient,” he added. “When we built the subways, they were designed to be resistant to climate changes. It’s something we must do.”
