Seemingly unaware of Texans legendary claims of independence and denigration of government assistance, Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott issued a half-hardy thank you to President Joe Biden for federal disaster aid after his state fell victim to an outage caused by an unregulated power grid, USA Today reports.

“I thank President Biden for his assistance as we respond to impacts of winter weather across our state. While this partial approval is an important first step, Texas will continue to work with our federal partners to ensure all eligible Texans have access to the relief they need,” Abbott said in the release. “The funds provided under the Major Disaster Declaration may provide crucial assistance to Texans as they begin to repair their homes and address property damage.”

Biden signed a disaster declaration for all 254 Texas counties after millions of people lost power because large portions of the Texas power grid, which is disconnected from the major grids in the US, failed.  Also, many power generating stations which run on fossil fuels and the fossil fuel pipelines shut down because of sensors that failed in cold weather.  In Texas, 90% of power comes from fossil fuels.

While the Biden disaster declaration provided public assistance to all counties, it only provided individual relief to people in 77 of the hardest hit counties.  All counties get federal aid to governmental organizations and non-profits to repair or replace public facilities or infrastructure damaged or destroyed by a disaster.

In the 77 designated counties, individuals can apply for assistance directly from the federal government for weather related damage and losses, including temporary housing, home repairs, loans to repair property damage caused by the storm and additional programs for individuals and business owners.