House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said conditions should be attached to congressional aid sent to help fight the wildfires in Los Angeles.
While walking through the Capitol, CNN’s Manu Raju asked Johnson whether he believed conditions should be attached to wildfire assistance. Johnson argued that there should be, reasoning that state and local officials showed incompetence in their response.
“Obviously, there’s been water resource mismanagement, forest management, mistakes, all sorts of problems. And it does come down to leadership, and it appears to us that state and local leaders were derelict in their duty, and in many respects. So that’s something that has to be factored in,” Johnson said.
“I think there should probably be conditions on that aid, that’s my personal view. We’ll see what the consensus is,” he added.
Johnson’s comments came after a report from Politico said President-elect Donald Trump and other Republicans were considering making aid for the Los Angeles wildfires conditional on an increase to the debt ceiling. Johnson was not at the Mar-a-Lago meeting where the plan was allegedly discussed.
Many Democratic figures expressed outrage at Johnson’s position, comparing the move to extortion.
“This is a Mistake. If you start this, it will never end. When Dems retake the House, they will condition aid to Florida and Texas. Disaster Aid must stay non partisan. I would fight democrats should they try and do this. The Speaker can find many other ways to hold people accountable,” Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) said in a post on X.
California’s local and state response to the deadliest wildfires in U.S. history has been heavily criticized, especially in the initial stages when firefighters found many fire hydrants empty.
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According to Cal Fire, the fires have burned over 40,500 acres, killed at least 19 people, and destroyed over 12,300 structures.
At least nine other states have sent emergency personnel to help fight the fires, as well as Mexico and Canada.