Fire Department Cuts Compound as Cities Struggle with Migrant Crisis and Wildfires
Fire Department Cuts Compound as Sanctuary Cities Struggle with Migrant Crisis and Wildfires
Severe understaffing at Southern California fire departments, worsened by budget diversions for migrant services, left the region vulnerable when devastating wildfires struck this month. The crisis highlights growing tensions between local funding priorities and possible conditions which may be imposed on federal disaster aid.Los Angeles and San Diego fire departments, already operating well below recommended staffing levels, faced further strain as their cities diverted resources to handle unprecedented migrant arrivals. Denver cut $2.5 million from its fire department to cover $90 million in migrant services, while New York City imposed 5% cuts across agencies, including emergency services, to address $2.3 billion in migrant-related costs.
The consequences became clear when fires swept through Los Angeles County, destroying over 15,700 structures. LAFD, operating with less than half its recommended staffing and struggling with equipment maintenance, couldn't adequately respond in some neighborhoods. San Diego, despite having the lowest firefighter-to-resident ratio among major U.S. cities, is considering additional 5% cuts to emergency services to address its $258 million deficit.
President Trump, visiting California this week, suggested conditioning federal disaster aid on changes to state policies, while House Speaker Johnson questioned the cities' preparedness and resource allocation. Some California Republicans oppose restrictions on relief funding, arguing disaster aid shouldn't be tied to immigration policies.
The compounded crisis has left cities seeking billions in federal assistance while still struggling to balance emergency services with migrant support. According to FAIR, states and local governments shouldered most of the $150 billion spent on migrant services in 2023, forcing difficult choices between public safety and humanitarian obligations.
San Diego Fire-Rescue is facing proposed budget cuts – NBC 7 San Diego
From the fires in Los Angeles County to the fires in Mission Valley and Rancho Bernardo, San Diego firefighters have been on the frontlines of a weekslong fire storm, despite the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department facing possible budget cuts.
“We have always tried to spare police and fire from the worst of any particular cuts,” San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said Wednesday.
With the city of San Diego facing a more than $250 million budget deficit, Gloria has been forced to make some tough decisions. According to the budget plan, that would mean reducing things like dispatch operations, eliminating a fire academy and helicopter staffing.
Gloria says aircraft from other agencies will help to fill any gaps like what we saw during October’s College Area brush fire, which sparked on the south side of Montezuma Road.
“We had multiple aircraft in the air, but only two of them were paid for by the city of San Diego," Gloria said. "The others were paid for by other area agencies like SDG&E and Cal Fire, so we can work collaboratively. And, of course, that gets paid back later when our firefighters are called to help another jurisdiction."
NBC 7's Omari Fleming shows us some of the strategies local firefighters use to help get rapidly moving fires under control.
Despite the proposed cuts, SDFD Assistant Chief Dan Eddy says he feels his department is incredibly prepared for any threats. After Wednesday's Public Safety Committee meeting, he said he was thankful that they plan to make sure funding is available for brush abatement positions.
He also noted the department is fully staffed, with 1,000 firefighters. But according to the budget plan, part of the cuts call for savings through unfilled vacant positions.
“We're considering adding a third academy," Eddy said. "It would be a back to back to back, so basically like to quarterly. Our academies usually start with about 35 to 40 individuals."
As the city looks to implement cuts, fire retardant spray called Citrotech is one of the innovations Gloria says the city is using more frequently in areas with heavy brush and encampments to help prevent fires.
"Placing it in high-risk areas in advance of an incident makes it much less likely that a fire that ignites anywhere nearby," the mayor said.
Gloria says it's that type of innovation that's needed right now, but he agrees with Eddy that one of the city's biggest weapons against fires is mutual aid agreement.
“The city of San Diego is well prepared. The region is well prepared, our collaboration with one another and ensuring that we're all on the same page, and we have those additional resources here, ensures that we can protect you," Eddy said.
Gloria also noted fire prevention is not just the responsibility of the city and fire department. He says it’s also important that homeowners clear brush from their property and report any problems they have.
Data shows LA Fire Department among the most understaffed in America
Less than a month before fires swept across Los Angeles, a group of longtime firefighters gathered at City Hall to plead for more resources. They were at a “breaking point,” one said. Another revealed that million-dollar fire trucks sat idle because budget cuts had shrunk the number of mechanics available to fix them.“I’m going to say what people can’t say,” said Freddy Escobar, president of the city’s fire union and a veteran firefighter. “If we cut one position, if we close one station … the residents of Los Angeles are going to pay the ultimate sacrifice, and someone will die.”The firefighters’ concerns over resources, it seems, weren’t off the mark. A CNN analysis of the most recent data available from the 10 largest U.S. cities and other comparable departments shows the Los Angeles Fire Department is less staffed than almost any other major city, leaving it struggling to meet both daily emergencies and larger disasters such as wildfires.Despite being located in one of the most fire-prone areas in the country, the LAFD has less than one firefighter for every 1,000 residents. That compares to cities such as Chicago, Dallas and Houston, where staffing is closer to two firefighters for the same number of residents. Of the largest cities, only San Diego has fewer firefighters per capita.Up the coast from L.A., the city of San Francisco boasts more than 1,800 firefighters for around 1.5 million residents of the city and nearby communities, while L.A. has roughly 3,500 firefighters allotted to serve a city of nearly 4 million.Experts have said no fire department in the world would have been able to take on such a perfect storm of conditions that resulted in L.A.’s devastating blazes – which have burned more than 40,000 acres, destroyed more than 12,000 structures and caused at least 24 deaths.L.A.’s firefighters were joined by crews from across the state, including from the Los Angeles County Fire Department, which covers areas outside the city, including hard-hit Altadena. But images of residents in some neighborhoods trying to save homes with garden hoses and no firefighters in sight have sparked a new debate over whether city officials should have planned better and invested more in the LAFD, and what should be done to become better positioned for the next emergency.One of the speakers joining firefighters at the Fire Commission meeting last month was City Councilmember Traci Park. She warned resources were being strained “beyond the brink” despite a dangerously increasing risk of wildfire.“Time and time again, elected leaders in Los Angeles have failed to make meaningful investments in our public safety and as a result, Angelenos are suffering the consequences,” Park said.Just 21 days later, the Pacific Palisades community within Park’s council district ended up as the epicenter of one of the fires.L.A.’s firefighters say the lack of resources is an everyday concern that extends beyond their ability to battle wildfires. They are also tasked with responding to structural fires, traffic accidents and medical emergencies, which have spiked amid a worsening homelessness crisis.In a memo from the end of last year, Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley also expressed concerns that the fire department’s staffing levels were half the size that a professional fire department should be, based on benchmarks recommended by the National Fire Protection Association.In the memo, which the city has since removed from its website, Crowley wrote that the city’s population had grown from about 2.5 million in 1960 to nearly 4 million in 2020. Yet the city has fewer fire stations today than it did back then, even as firefighters respond to a call volume that has quadrupled.Crowley wrote that based on an analysis, the agency would need 62 new fire stations and hundreds more firefighters to meet the nationwide average for fire departments in densely populated cities.L.A. Mayor Karen Bass has faced criticism for recent budget cuts at the department, though she defended them at a press conference last week as a product of “tough budgetary times” and said the “impact of our budget really did not affect what we’ve been going through.” She also said additional funding was allocated later that ultimately represented an increase in the agency’s budget. Bass and the fire department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on CNN’s findings.The fire union says that the neglect of the agency is a problem that long predates Bass.“This isn’t about one budget cycle. It’s not about a single mayor. This has been the case for decades. We have been speaking about it for years now,” Escobar, the union president, said in an interview with CNN. “It’s sad it’s taken this natural disaster and tragedy to highlight what we have been saying for decades.”In 2011, Los Angeles placed near dead last in a ranking of fire department staffing for the country’s 40 largest cities. The study, conducted by a New York City labor union, reviewed metrics including the number of firefighters, stations and engines.Last year, the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation, a non-profit organization whose mission is to support the city’s fire department, issued a report, which included examples underscoring how much the department was struggling. Stations that were intended to house around six firefighters, for example, are now sleeping up to double that, according to the report. A single mini fridge was used to hold food for an entire station across all of their shifts, the report stated, and one washing machine has been used for more than 16 firefighters who need to clean their uniforms almost every day.“City budget constraints and limited resources result in firefighters frequently shouldering the costs for urgent repairs or replacements of basic items, like washing machines, coffee machines and ice machines,” the report said, noting that nearly half of all stations have less than $1,000 of cash on hand in station accounts, which could quickly be drained by any number of necessary repairs.Park, the councilwoman who sounded the alarm about a lack of resources last month, told CNN that she hopes “this is a wake-up call” and an opportunity to rethink how the city is prioritizing its competing needs. She has spent the past week surveying the destruction and speaking with firefighters who told her they had never seen anything like the situation that unfolded.“Whether (more resources) would have made a difference for this particular fire or not, I don’t know. But on an average day here in Los Angeles, we don’t have what we need,” she said in an interview. “They have miraculously done more with less … but it’s not fair to them. … We owe it to them and to their families to make sure they’re safe and they have what they need.”
LOS ANGELES —
Less than a month before fires swept across Los Angeles, a group of longtime firefighters gathered at City Hall to plead for more resources. They were at a “breaking point,” one said. Another revealed that million-dollar fire trucks sat idle because budget cuts had shrunk the number of mechanics available to fix them.
“I’m going to say what people can’t say,” said Freddy Escobar, president of the city’s fire union and a veteran firefighter. “If we cut one position, if we close one station … the residents of Los Angeles are going to pay the ultimate sacrifice, and someone will die.”
The firefighters’ concerns over resources, it seems, weren’t off the mark. A CNN analysis of the most recent data available from the 10 largest U.S. cities and other comparable departments shows the Los Angeles Fire Department is less staffed than almost any other major city, leaving it struggling to meet both daily emergencies and larger disasters such as wildfires.
Despite being located in one of the most fire-prone areas in the country, the LAFD has less than one firefighter for every 1,000 residents. That compares to cities such as Chicago, Dallas and Houston, where staffing is closer to two firefighters for the same number of residents. Of the largest cities, only San Diego has fewer firefighters per capita.
Up the coast from L.A., the city of San Francisco boasts more than 1,800 firefighters for around 1.5 million residents of the city and nearby communities, while L.A. has roughly 3,500 firefighters allotted to serve a city of nearly 4 million.
Experts have said no fire department in the world would have been able to take on such a perfect storm of conditions that resulted in L.A.’s devastating blazes – which have burned more than 40,000 acres, destroyed more than 12,000 structures and caused at least 24 deaths.
L.A.’s firefighters were joined by crews from across the state, including from the Los Angeles County Fire Department, which covers areas outside the city, including hard-hit Altadena. But images of residents in some neighborhoods trying to save homes with garden hoses and no firefighters in sight have sparked a new debate over whether city officials should have planned better and invested more in the LAFD, and what should be done to become better positioned for the next emergency.
One of the speakers joining firefighters at the Fire Commission meeting last month was City Councilmember Traci Park. She warned resources were being strained “beyond the brink” despite a dangerously increasing risk of wildfire.
“Time and time again, elected leaders in Los Angeles have failed to make meaningful investments in our public safety and as a result, Angelenos are suffering the consequences,” Park said.
Just 21 days later, the Pacific Palisades community within Park’s council district ended up as the epicenter of one of the fires.
L.A.’s firefighters say the lack of resources is an everyday concern that extends beyond their ability to battle wildfires. They are also tasked with responding to structural fires, traffic accidents and medical emergencies, which have spiked amid a worsening homelessness crisis.
In a memo from the end of last year, Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley also expressed concerns that the fire department’s staffing levels were half the size that a professional fire department should be, based on benchmarks recommended by the National Fire Protection Association.
In the memo, which the city has since removed from its website, Crowley wrote that the city’s population had grown from about 2.5 million in 1960 to nearly 4 million in 2020. Yet the city has fewer fire stations today than it did back then, even as firefighters respond to a call volume that has quadrupled.
Crowley wrote that based on an analysis, the agency would need 62 new fire stations and hundreds more firefighters to meet the nationwide average for fire departments in densely populated cities.
L.A. Mayor Karen Bass has faced criticism for recent budget cuts at the department, though she defended them at a press conference last week as a product of “tough budgetary times” and said the “impact of our budget really did not affect what we’ve been going through.” She also said additional funding was allocated later that ultimately represented an increase in the agency’s budget. Bass and the fire department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on CNN’s findings.
The fire union says that the neglect of the agency is a problem that long predates Bass.
“This isn’t about one budget cycle. It’s not about a single mayor. This has been the case for decades. We have been speaking about it for years now,” Escobar, the union president, said in an interview with CNN. “It’s sad it’s taken this natural disaster and tragedy to highlight what we have been saying for decades.”
In 2011, Los Angeles placed near dead last in a ranking of fire department staffing for the country’s 40 largest cities. The study, conducted by a New York City labor union, reviewed metrics including the number of firefighters, stations and engines.
Last year, the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation, a non-profit organization whose mission is to support the city’s fire department, issued a report, which included examples underscoring how much the department was struggling. Stations that were intended to house around six firefighters, for example, are now sleeping up to double that, according to the report. A single mini fridge was used to hold food for an entire station across all of their shifts, the report stated, and one washing machine has been used for more than 16 firefighters who need to clean their uniforms almost every day.
“City budget constraints and limited resources result in firefighters frequently shouldering the costs for urgent repairs or replacements of basic items, like washing machines, coffee machines and ice machines,” the report said, noting that nearly half of all stations have less than $1,000 of cash on hand in station accounts, which could quickly be drained by any number of necessary repairs.
Park, the councilwoman who sounded the alarm about a lack of resources last month, told CNN that she hopes “this is a wake-up call” and an opportunity to rethink how the city is prioritizing its competing needs. She has spent the past week surveying the destruction and speaking with firefighters who told her they had never seen anything like the situation that unfolded.
“Whether (more resources) would have made a difference for this particular fire or not, I don’t know. But on an average day here in Los Angeles, we don’t have what we need,” she said in an interview. “They have miraculously done more with less … but it’s not fair to them. … We owe it to them and to their families to make sure they’re safe and they have what they need.”
Funding fire services amid city budget deficit: will there be cutbacks?
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — The fire disaster is top of mind as the City of San Diego allocates their yearly budget. This comes as the City of Los Angeles has been widely criticized for their handling of recent Santa Ana winds and fires burning through several of their communities after cutting $17 million from the fire fighting budget.
San Diego is now facing a $258 million deficit and the mayor is deciding which city departments will see cutbacks.
“We will have to cut existing city services in order meet our city’s legal obligation to balance our city’s budget,” said Mayor Todd Gloria. “That said, I’m very clear that public safety is our city’s number one responsibility of the government. When it comes to choosing between cutting things like our police department, or fire department, or lifeguards, or our paramedics, or another service — we will be cutting another service.”
All departments have been asked to explore 20% cutbacks while police and fire departments have been asked to explore 5% cutbacks.
“It’s never a good idea to cut fire rescue services. Los Angeles is learning this tragically. It’s imperative that San Diego does not repeat these mistakes,” said Capt. George Duardo, the President of San Diego Fire union 145.
City council members will also have to vote on a final budget deal.
“As the councilmember representing one of the most high fire prone areas and the public safety chair, it’s my job to fight to make sure our public safety apparatus is ready to go and our teams have what they need,” said Marni Von Wilpert a San Diego City councilmember. “And I’m going to make sure our firefighters do have what they need to respond to emergencies.”
As for the confidence in our fire suppression ground game against Santa Ana wind-driven fires, Capt. Duardo said San Diego has powerful partners when it comes to mutual aid.
“It’s collaborating with the military, the National Guard,” he explained. “It’s our partners, we have a very good mutual aid system.”
Trump's order to cut off funding to sanctuary cities could threaten L.A. fire relief - Los Angeles Times
As Los Angeles rebuilds from a devastating wildfire that destroyed swaths of Pacific Palisades, the city’s access to federal money could be imperiled by one of President Trump’s first-day immigration actions targeting “sanctuary cities.”
An executive order that Trump signed Monday, shortly after he was sworn in, directs federal officials to take actions “to ensure that so-called ‘sanctuary’ jurisdictions, which seek to interfere with the lawful exercise of Federal law enforcement operations, do not receive access to Federal funds.”
The order, titled “Protecting the American People Against Invasion,” is one of several the President issued cracking down on immigration, including another directive to end birthright citizenship for children of immigrants in the country temporarily or without authorization. Several states, including California, filed an immediate legal challenge on the grounds that birthright citizenship for any child born in the U.S. is protected by the Constitution.
In November, the Los Angeles City Council approved a sanctuary city law that forbids city employees and resources from being involved in federal immigration enforcement. It was signed into law by Mayor Karen Bass last month.
“Mayor Bass will work with anyone to bring federal resources to our city and will stand against any policy that would harm L.A. families,” Bass spokesperson Zach Seidl said in an email. “Right now, her focus is to work with our federal partners to lead the most monumental recovery effort in history.”
Nick Barnes-Batista, a spokesperson for City Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez, said in an email that the city will not lose funding under Trump’s executive order.
L.A.’s sanctuary city law, which Soto-Martínez proposed with two colleagues, “does not interfere with federal law enforcement operations; rather, it ensures that city resources and staff are not used to collaborate with immigration authorities,” Barnes-Batista said. “Simply put, the city of Los Angeles neither obstructs nor assists federal immigration operations.”
The sanctuary city law, first proposed in 2023, codified preexisting policies to protect immigrants and their families that were established under an order by former Mayor Eric Garcetti.
The law says that city employees and property may not be used to “investigate, cite, arrest, hold, transfer or detain any person” for the purpose of immigration enforcement.
Immigrant rights groups in L.A. and other cities have pushed for sanctuary city policies, which limit cooperation with federal officials on immigration enforcement. They are intended to build trust between immigrant communities, police and other government institutions by enabling undocumented people to report crimes and access essential services without fear of deportation.
Trump, who has said that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country,” promised “the largest deportation operation in American history,” to use the military to execute it and to ask Congress to pass a law outlawing sanctuary cities nationwide.
Trump has also threatened to withhold firefighting aid to California if its leaders do not carry out his political agenda. House Speaker Mike Johnson and congressional Republicans have said they want to place conditions on providing federal aid to California fire victims, while Trump has suggested using Los Angeles fire relief as a bargaining chip to get Democratic support for his policy and budget priorities.
During a news briefing Tuesday, Trump said that “it’s been, in some ways, made simpler by Los Angeles, because they’re going to need a lot of money, and generally speaking, I think you find that a lot of Democrats are going to be asking for help.”
“Look, we’re going to take care of Los Angeles,” Trump said.
The Palisades fire, which started the morning of Jan. 7, has destroyed more than 6,300 structures and killed 11 people. It was 65% contained as of Tuesday. The Eaton fire, which broke out near Altadena later that day, has destroyed more than 9,400 structures and killed 17 people. It is now 89% contained.
Los Angeles officials emphasized the importance of coordination with federal officials as the city undertakes one of the largest disaster recovery efforts in its history.
“Federal disaster aid is essential — not only for our city’s recovery but also for maintaining the stability and resilience of the entire region,” Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky, who chairs the budget and finance committee, said in a statement.
Yaroslavsky added that “the federal government has a strong interest in partnering with Los Angeles to ensure the success of this recovery, particularly as we prepare to host global events like the 2028 [Olympic and Paralympic] Games.”
Trump’s actions against immigrants will have outsized impacts in California, and the Los Angeles area in particular as it recovers from the fires.
California has more first-generation immigrants than any other state, and more than 62% of L.A. County’s nearly 10 million residents are either foreign born or have at least one immigrant parent, according to the Pew Research Center. About 800,000 people in L.A. County lacked legal status in 2023, according to the USC Equity Research Institute.
Times staff writers Colleen Shalby and David Zahniser contributed to this report.
Cracks emerge in House GOP after speaker's threat to saddle California wildfire aid with conditions
LOS ANGELES (AP) — California Republicans are pushing back against suggestions by President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republicans that federal disaster aid for victims of wildfires that ravaged Southern California should come with strings attached, possibly jeopardizing the president’s policy agenda in a deeply divided Congress at the outset of his second term.
With Trump planning to visit the fire-ravaged state this week, resistance from even a few House members to his efforts to put conditions on disaster aid could further complicate an already fraught relationship between reliably liberal California and the second Trump administration.
Several Republicans who narrowly won California House seats in November have expressed dismay that the state relief could be hitched to demands in exchange for helping the thousands of Californians in their districts still reeling from this month’s disaster.
“Playing politics with people’s livelihoods is unacceptable and a slap in the face to the Southern California wildfire victims and to our brave first responders,” Republican Rep. Young Kim, whose closely divided district is anchored in fire-prone Orange County, southeast of Los Angeles, said in a statement.
In an interview aired Wednesday night, Trump said he may withhold aid to California until the state adjusts how it manages its scarce water resources. He falsely claimed that California’s fish conservation efforts in the northern part of the state are responsible for fire hydrants running dry in urban areas.
“I don’t think we should give California anything until they let the water run down,” Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity.
Local officials have said the conservation efforts for the delta smelt had nothing to do with the hydrants running dry as firefighters tried to contain blazes around Los Angeles. They said intense demand on a municipal system not designed to battle such blazes was to blame.
The wind-driven firestorms wiped out whole neighborhoods of Los Angeles County, left thousands homeless and killed more than two dozen people.
Trump said earlier this week that discussions are underway in the White House to bring more water to perennially parched Los Angeles, alluding to rainfall runoff lost to the Pacific and the state’s vast water storage and delivery system.
“Los Angeles has massive amounts of water available to it. All they have to do is turn the valve,” the president said.
California has long been a favorite target of Trump, who also referred to the fires in his inaugural address Monday. In LA, he said, “we are watching fires still tragically burn from weeks ago without even a token of defense.”
“That’s going to change.”
Trump has made no mention of the multinational firefighting force deployed to contend with multiple blazes. Firefighters were gaining ground on the two major fires Wednesday when a third blaze broke out north of Los Angeles and quickly burned through hundreds of acres of dry brush.
Johnson, a Louisiana Republican echoing Trump’s complaints, has said there are “serious” problems in how the state is managed. Those include insufficient funding for forestry programs and water storage. He also noted the public dispute between the LA fire chief and City Hall over budget cuts.
Johnson said Wednesday that Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass did not prepare the state or the city for what was to come. He particularly cited a 117-million-gallon reservoir left unfilled for nearly a year. Newsom has called for an independent investigation of the reservoir.
Bass didn’t directly respond to a question about possible conditions on disaster aid, saying in a statement: “Our work with our federal partners will be based on direct conversations with them about how we can work together.”
Some Republicans have suggested that the congressional relief package could become entangled with efforts to raise the nation’s debt limit — and with the House so closely divided, even a few breakaway votes from either party could alter the outcome.
That leaves GOP lawmakers from California in a political quandary: whether to forcefully stand up for their home state, often pilloried by the GOP as representing all that is wrong with America, while Republicans in Congress are eager to show a unified front and parlay their November election wins into what Trump has called a new “golden age” for the nation.
Several California representatives agreed that the federal government must guard against the misuse of funds but argued that the money should not be held up or saddled with restrictions not placed on other states after tornadoes and hurricanes.
The dilemma played out in social media posts by Republican Rep. Ken Calvert, who narrowly prevailed in November in his swing district east of Los Angeles.
“Californians are entitled to receive federal disaster assistance in the same manner as all Americans,” he wrote on X. But, he quickly added, “Some federal policy changes may be needed to expedite rebuilding as well as improve future wildfire prevention. Those kind of policies are not conditions.”
Republican Rep. Kevin Kiley, whose sprawling district runs from east of Sacramento south to Death Valley, told KCRA-TV in Sacramento last week that Johnson’s use of the word conditions was not “especially helpful.” Speaking at the Capitol Wednesday, he said there is a lot of ambiguity about what constitutes conditions for disaster aid.
He said his focus is to make sure the money doesn’t get wasted through government inefficiency.
“We want to make sure the money actually gets to the victims and they can use it to rebuild their homes and to recover,” Kiley said.
Politicians in Washington have feuded for years over how to restrain the growing wildfire threat across the West. Republicans have long complained that inadequate land management practices have exacerbated damage from wildfires, while Democrats have emphasized the role of climate change and the failure of the federal government to address it.
About the only thing they agree on is that the problem persists.
Some lawmakers have noted that disaster aid over the years for Johnson’s home state of Louisiana did not come with conditions. Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries called the idea a “non-starter.”
Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa, whose largely rural district runs from the Sacramento area north to the Oregon border, said he wasn’t too concerned about talk of conditions.
“Everything has conditions, especially the way California wastes money,” LaMalfa said. “We want to help people and we want to help with that, like we’ve helped with others. But California is very, very irresponsible.”
Trump plans to visit the state to see the damage firsthand on Friday. Newsom hasn’t said publicly if he’ll accompany him on his tour.
With the fragile GOP majority in the House — there are 219 Republicans, 214 Democrats and one vacancy — Johnson cannot afford defections on any vote. And it could be several weeks before a fuller accounting of the state’s recovery needs is ready and a formal request submitted to the White House.
Following major natural disasters, the president typically makes supplemental spending requests, as happened after hurricanes Helene and Milton.
Congress also could provide more disaster aid to California through legislation. Sen. Lindsey Graham, the Republican chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said he would work to include disaster aid in a filibuster-proof bill Republicans hope to craft this year that would pay for some of Trump’s top policy priorities.
Newsom urged Johnson and other congressional leaders to quickly approve assistance for the state, where fires are still burning and strong winds continue to threaten new ones. In an email to supporters from his campaign committee, he warned that “Republicans are holding federal aid hostage” and said Democrats might be able to peel off a handful of GOP votes to push through an aid package.
“In times of natural disaster — from Hurricane Katrina to Hurricane Helene — Americans have always stood together, setting aside politics to extend a helping hand to those in need,” the governor wrote. “Historically, federal disaster aid has been provided without conditions.”
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Freking reported from Washington.
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