Republicans threaten to play politics with California disaster aid

Photo: Etienne Laurent/AFP/Getty Images

If there’s anything that could appeal to the latent nonpartisan instincts and benevolent feelings of federal policymakers, it’s the sights and sounds of widespread suffering from natural disasters like the California wildfires. This is why federal disaster relief, triggered by a presidential proclamation with funds ultimately controlled by Congress, is usually uncontroversial. In fact, such funds are typically considered to have to be passed through legislation, and are therefore often instrumental in initiatives that might otherwise be problematic.

But there is now growing discussion among Republicans in Congress about making disaster aid to California conditional on various types of state policy changes. Most of the proposed conditions, as suggested by House Speaker Mike Johnson, would have left Los Angeles more vulnerable to deadly fires or made it more difficult to fight the blazes, Democrats said. It originates from the Republican myth that the fires were caused by the practice of

“Obviously, there were problems with water resource management, mismanagement of forests, all kinds of problems. And it’s a leadership issue, and it’s a question of leadership, and we’ve had state and local leaders who have failed in their duties in many ways.” “I think it is,” Johnson told reporters, according to USA Today. “So that has to be taken into account. I think there should probably be conditions for that aid. That’s my personal view.”

Coincidentally, this “personal opinion” is very similar to claims and threats that Johnson’s boss, Donald Trump, has made over the years, especially in California just before the 2024 election. This is the same argument made at the rally.

“We’re going to take care of your water situation and we’re going to shove water down your throat,” Trump said of California Governor Gavin Newsom, according to the Washington Post. “And we say, ‘Gavin, if you don’t do that, every fire fund that we always send you for every fire, every bushfire that you have, you’re going to get a dime. You won’t be able to give it to me either.”

President Trump has confused disputes over water rights demanded by large agricultural companies in the Central Valley with the water needs of Los Angeles and other Southern California cities. In fact, the reservoirs supplying firefighters are nearly full. President Trump’s parallel attacks on California’s (and the federal government’s) forest management practices are not particularly germane to the kind of urban fires currently raging in populated areas. But part of the problem is that Republicans are saying all sorts of things they don’t like about the Democratic administration’s California public policy, whether related to current or future disasters, including the state’s broader approach. The reason is that they are threatening to take disaster relief hostage. For environmental protection. Moreover, conservative hostility toward California suggests that the Republican-run Congress has no policy or financial commitments, as suggested by the following quote posted on The Hill by House Freedom Caucus member Ralph Norman: This could affect the willingness to approve aid without concessions. In my opinion, you get a pound of meat for every dollar you spend in California. ”

During the first Trump administration, the then 45th president decided to withhold criminal justice funding from states and cities that refused to cooperate with immigration enforcement policies, but this measure was pursued in court even after Trump left office. It’s worth remembering what you’ve been doing. . At this point, you can imagine we’re one Truth Social post away from President Trump demanding immigration concessions from states like California as a condition of disaster relief.

Congressional Democrats are cautioning against the risk of continued escalation in the partisan war over disaster funding.

This is wrong. Once you start this, it will never end. Democrats will make aid to Florida and Texas a condition when they take back the House. Disaster relief must be nonpartisan. If the Democrats tried to do this, I would fight them. Speakers can find many other ways to restrain people… https://t.co/jlnYRSWd9K

— Jared Moskowitz (@JaredEMoskowitz) January 13, 2025

Perhaps this situation was simply a coincidence of bad timing, with the debacle occurring in the midst of a persistent legal battle between California and Trump, which resumed after Biden’s four-year term. I guess that means. Significantly, the Los Angeles fires occurred just as California’s Democratic legislature was holding a special session to secure funding to take the state “against Trump,” perhaps through a blizzard of lawsuits against the administration’s executive orders. It is. But even though this was a uniquely volatile situation, the Republicans, who currently run the federal government, would be willing to take action if disaster relief became a regular tool in political warfare with states controlled by other parties. We should be wary of the precedents we create.

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