The battle over wildfire aid for Los Angeles is quickly evolving into a game of high-stakes chicken.
Many Republicans are demanding conditions on any new emergency funding, blaming Democratic leaders in California for exacerbating the crisis.
Democrats are rejecting conditions outright, accusing Republicans of exploiting the disaster to score political points.
And both sides appear ready to stand firm, gambling that the other side will face the brunt of the public backlash if a partisan clash delays aid to victims of what is shaping up to be among the most damaging — and most expensive — natural disasters in the country’s history.
“It does set up this clash,” said Rep. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.). “But sometimes you’ve got to have principles and morals for what you’re standing for. And I think the people will see who’s playing a game.”
Republicans contend that the real game is happening in California, where Democratic leaders have mismanaged their fire-prevention programs and shouldn’t be given a blank check from Washington, even amid the disaster.
“It’s gotta be more than paid for, they’ve gotta own it,” said Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.). “We cannot borrow money we don’t have to pay for something that is really the fault of the legislation, fault of the governor.”
What specific conditions on emergency funding GOP leaders will demand — if any — remains unclear. But different factions of the House Republican Conference are making their preferences known.
Some GOP lawmakers want any new aid to be coupled with a debt ceiling hike. Others, including leaders of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, want the cost to be offset by changes elsewhere in the budget. And still others say new funding must be paired with specific changes related to California’s fire-mitigation policies, which they blame for compounding the scope of the damage.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who supports some conditions on aid, is entertaining all of those options, although he has not committed to any specific demands.
“There are natural disasters, of course, but if they are made much worse by human error and deliberate policy — policy choices that were unwise and were stated as such at the time — then I think that that’s something that needs to be carefully regarded,” Johnson said.
If Republicans insist on conditions in any form, Democratic leaders are already vowing to oppose the measure in no uncertain terms, setting the stage for one of the early partisan battles under incoming President Trump.
“Members of the California delegation have been very vocal on this matter and have made clear it is a complete and total nonstarter,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday, rejecting any conditions on wildfire aid. “This Congress, in our nation’s 248-year history, has never conditioned disaster assistance to everyday Americans whose lives have been upended by extreme weather events.
“Never has happened — and it should never happen.”
Which side would bear the brunt of the blame for an impasse, of course, remains to be seen. But the voters’ verdict, in such an event, could have broad repercussions not only in Sacramento — where Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is thought to have presidential ambitions — but in Washington, as well.
California is a Democratic stronghold. The party controls the Statehouse, both seats in the U.S. Senate and 43 out of 52 seats in the House. But a number of those House seats represent true battleground districts, where both sides vie every two years to gain an advantage in the lower chamber.
If voters side with GOP lawmakers in blaming Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass — a former member of the U.S. House — and other Democratic leaders in the Golden State, Republicans could be in a position to benefit politically.
A long stalemate over conditions on aid, however, could also backfire on the GOP if voters shift the blame on Republicans for any delay — a scenario that’s not without precedent.
In 2013, conservatives scoffed at a federal emergency aid package in response to Hurricane Sandy, which struck the Northeast in late 2012. The deficit hawks said the package must be paid for by other changes to the budget — a stipulation that infuriated Republicans from New York and New Jersey, where the storm was most damaging, and triggered an internal fight within the GOP that benefited Democrats politically.
This time around, deficit hawks like Norman are voicing the same concerns about the budget impact of assistance to California. Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), head of the Freedom Caucus, said any emergency aid package must be offset “in full,” while new policy conditions should be imposed on California.
“Absolutely,” Harris said.
Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) is another vocal proponent of new fire-mitigation policies, advocating for “policy reforms to assure that the land-management practices that minimize these fires will be put back in place.”
Rep. Doug LaMalfa, another California Republican, sought to distinguish between the immediate needs in Southern California, including efforts to extinguish fires that are still raging out of control, and longer-term aid. That early help, he said, should not have conditions.
But any future federal assistance to help with rebuilding and other longer-term projects, he said, should come not only with fire-mitigation reforms at the state level, but also an examination of federal laws like the Endangered Species Act, which he said is “being manipulated” to prevent proper water storage and forest management.
“It’s continuing to be weaponized,” LaMalfa said. “But it’s not unheard of to have conditions — post-fire, post-emergency — on how the money’s going to be used. Because my colleagues from other states, they’re not excited about just giving California money.”
The threat that any form of emergency funding will be held up over partisan demands is already prompting a backlash from some other California Republicans, who are urging their GOP colleagues to resist the temptation to demand attachments to an aid package.
“Right now, what we need in California is federal aid as soon as possible. Worry about those, whatever the conditions or whatever, late,” said Rep. Young Kim (R-Calif.).
“Right now it’s not time to play politics here,” she added. “Just get us the support that we need.”
Mychael Schnell contributed.
