The weekend’s fatal floods in Texas have sparked immediate clashes in Congress over the federal government's role in preventing, or at least minimizing, the human toll of natural disasters.

On one side are Democrats pointing to the Trump administration’s cuts to the National Weather Service (NWS) as a potential reason the flood victims were not better forewarned. They’re calling for investigations into why the alert systems in place were not more effective.

On the other side are President Trump’s GOP allies, who argue that the president’s efforts to slash federal agencies, including the NWS, were a nonfactor in what they say was simply a freak natural calamity. They’re accusing the Democrats of exploiting a natural disaster for their own political gain.

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The partisan dispute could hamper what is likely to be the........

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