Ted Cruz passed out water, BBQ in Texas this weekend. AOC raised $5 million for Texans.

Ted Cruz
(Image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Instead of returning from a beach vacation to Mexico this weekend, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and some photographers helped distribute bottled water Saturday to Texans who still don't have potable water a week after an unusually long and frigid winter storm ground the state to a halt. On Sunday, Cruz posted photos of himself slicing brisket and posing with uniformed law enforcement officers, for Houston firefighters and other first responders.

See more

While Cruz was out in the suddenly warm Houston sunshine — and enduring even more mockery for his short-lived Cancun getaway, this time on SNL — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) was continuing to raise money for Texans and, on Saturday, distributing food at the Houston Food Bank with Reps. Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas) and Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas).

On Sunday night, she reported that her fundraising effort, launched Thursday, hit the $5 million mark.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
See more

The funds AOC raised will go to food banks around Texas, Feeding Texas, Family Eldercare, and the Bridge Homeless Recovery Center, and other nonprofits, Houston Public Media reports. Cruz had some helpful information for Texans, too, via the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

See more

Along with the warm weather melting the snow, Texans mostly have their power back — all but about 18,000 Sunday night, down from more than 4 million last week — and water service is coming back online, often with orders to boil it before drinking. At least 32 people Texans died from the storm, including an 11-year-old boy in Conroe, Christian Pavon, who was found dead of suspected hypothermia after two nights in an uninsulated trailer with his family.

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.