ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE, May 10 (UPI) -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry spurned an offer to meet with President Obama during his trip to the Lone Star state, a White House spokesman said Tuesday.
The Republican governor had indicated a desire to discuss federal disaster aid and border issues with the Democratic president.
"Governor Perry turned down our invitation to meet the president at the airport," Obama press secretary Jay Carney told reporters aboard Air Force One while en route to El Paso.
When a reporter said Perry didn't want to trek 800 miles from the state capital of Austin to El Paso, Carney responded, "Again, we invited him to meet with the president and he declined the invitation. We have also in the past offered him a National Security Council briefing on immigration; he declined that as well."
Perry has previously expressed dismay with the Obama administration for not issuing a disaster declaration following widespread wildfires in Texas while such action came quickly for tornado-ravaged states.
Carney said the administration "has been extremely responsive to the state of Texas' requests for wildfire management assisting grants -- 25 of them at last count." He noted federal aid is covering 75 percent of the cost of fighting the fires in Texas.
"We take this very seriously," he said.
The press secretary rejected any assertions emanating from Republican quarters that politics are in play when it comes to disaster relief.
"... I would just point to the disaster declarations that the president has designated from across the country, and I think there was no discrimination here between red and blue states," he said.
