With President-elect Donald Trump about to take office, federal aid to fire-ravaged Los Angeles has already become entangled in a partisan political fight in Washington.
The disastrous wildfires are some of the most destructive and expensive in American history, underscoring the need for sustained funding for continued recovery efforts. But House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, indicated Tuesday that Congress could be setting up a potentially long political battle for continued relief funding, based on California's liberal leadership during the disaster.
"If (California Gov.) Gavin Newsom and local leaders made decisions that made this disaster exponentially worse -- which it appears there were -- should there be some consequence of that?" Johnson said to reporters Tuesday. "Why should people in other states and other governors and other mayors -- who manage their water resources and they manage their forests so much better -- why should they have to take care and compensate for bad decisions in California? I'm not saying we're going to leave anybody out. We're going to take care of our responsibilities, but we may need to think carefully about safeguards."
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Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who was overseas when the Palisades Fire broke out, have faced criticism over their leadership during the wildfires. Los Angeles City Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said last week that Bass had failed her department.
California Democrats -- especially those representing the areas decimated by the wildfires -- bashed Johnson for politicizing the disaster.
"Speaker Johnson has not visited California," said freshman Rep. Luz Rivas, D-North Hollywood, who represents the area decimated by the Eaton Fire. "Once you see it, you'll know that we need to send aid immediately. There's people who have lost everything in parts of Los Angeles that will take long to recover."
With less than a week until Trump is sworn in, and Republicans leading both the House and Senate, the impact on the state's recovery efforts of the long-running Trump-California feud is already coming into harsh light. Liberal California has long served as a boogeyman for conservative leaders, and frequently served as a punching bag during Trump's 2024 presidential campaign.
The trend continued in recent days, as Trump has publicly skewered California's leadership for their handling of the disastrous wildfires, posting on Truth Social on Tuesday morning, "RELEASE THE WATER, NEWSOM. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? DJT." Trump repeated a dubious claim that he had offered Newsom a deal when he was president years ago, to funnel water from the north -- possibly from Canada -- to fill California's reservoirs.
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Several Los Angeles leaders invited Trump to survey the damage in the region, and he has indicated he will visit next week.
Politico reported Monday that Republican leaders who met with Trump over the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida discussed tying future wildfire funding to the deeply political battle of raising the debt ceiling. Johnson toyed with the idea in a news conference Tuesday, telling reporters there was discussion about it among House members.
"How can we be good fiscal stewards of the public's treasure, and fulfill the responsibilities of the federal government?" Johnson said. "It's a delicate balance."
Trump and Johnson have said they hope to increase the debt ceiling, to pay for other legislative goals. With a thin majority in the House, Johnson cannot afford to lose many Republican votes -- and Republicans traditionally balk at increasing federal spending, instead urging fiscal restraint. Johnson will likely need to win over House Democrats to secure the increase. But "we will not support conditions to disaster assistance," House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, D-Redlands, said Tuesday.
"It is, I think, wrong to tie the debt limit to California relief," Rep. Brad Sherman, a Sherman Oaks Democrat who represents the Westside district devastated by the Palisades Fire, said in an interview Monday. "You usually don't say, well I'll help someone who's drowning but only if I get a million-dollar check and a free Dodgers ticket. So I'm not at all happy with any linkage."
Sherman added that he'd be happy to rid Congress of the debt ceiling forever, but he recognizes it could be a potentially crucial tool of leverage when securing future funding with a Republican-led Congress. Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, vice chair of the House Democratic caucus, called Johnson's suggestion to tie disaster relief to "unrelated concepts" such as the debt ceiling "outrageous."
"We should not be leveraging the pain and suffering of fellow Americans," Lieu said. "When Mother Nature strikes, she doesn't care about party affiliation. At the end of the day, we are all Americans."
California has continued funding for a time through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. President Biden has pledged 100% of federal backing for disaster assistance for the next six months, and California's leaders have made a show of thanking the president for his cooperation. But federal officials, including Biden, have stopped short of assuring that federal funding would continue once Trump enters office Monday.
The most Biden could say is he "hopes" the aid will continue. His promise for six months of funding could become empty once Trump starts his new term. When asked by a reporter if California would get the help it needs under the next administration, Biden responded, "I'm not in a position to answer that question. I pray to God they will," adding that he hoped Trump officials would recognize that the Biden administration has "some significant experience in this."
While FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell assured that federal law allowed Biden to make the funding commitments he did, she would not confirm that a future administration wouldn't stop the funding.
"Anybody can make a determination on if they want to do something or not, but this was done according to the statute, and I would think that the statute would say that this is the direction that needs to happen and that it shouldn't be rolled back," she said in a news conference Friday.
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