California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is asking the federal government for nearly $40 billion in fire relief — while suing and attacking the Trump administration — and he believes the aid will be without conditions.
Initial relief after the devastating January wildfires in Southern California had been authorized by the outgoing Biden administration, then extended by the “continuing resolution” budget deal in Congress.
But California needs more, and additional spending is expected in a supplemental relief bill. As Breitbart News has reported, Newsom is asking for nearly $40 billion — while spending $50 million to fight Trump.
Newsom has also launched new attacks on Trump, most recently suing the administration over its new tariffs. The governor has been willing to sue to block policies on a national level, while seeking federal assistance.
Newsom has maintained that he can do both, and CalMatters suggests that he still believes he will, because pressure from the Trump administration on issues like voting reform and water management is waning:
The Newsom administration remains hopeful that Congress will approve a supplemental disaster relief package by this summer. Its $40 billion wish list includes money for debris removal, public infrastructure repair, housing reconstruction, economic development grants and small business loans.
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The bipartisan team of Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla and GOP Rep. Ken Calvert of Corona, with California’s entire congressional delegation behind them, is leading the push on Capitol Hill. Early demands to condition aid to Los Angeles on unrelated policies such as water management and voter identification appear to be waning, especially as discussions around a funding bill have broadened to incorporate subsequent disasters in red and purple states, including floods in Kentucky and wildfires in North Carolina.
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Newsom said Thursday that he was encouraged because he has not heard anything from the Trump administration recently, either publicly or privately, reinforcing the president’s earlier comments about conditioning aid. The White House did not respond to questions about Trump’s position.
Democrats like Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) have argued that it would be immoral to condition aid due to policy differences. After all, he has argued, Californians do not deny funds to Louisiana over abortion.
What Sherman, perhaps deliberately, disregards is that California has a track record of misspending federal money — including, most recently, spending Medicaid funds on housing while running huge deficits.
There has been growing enthusiasm among Republicans for a “special master” to be assigned to fire aid to California, as it was after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks to aid compensating the families of victims.
President Donald Trump himself endorsed the idea publicly, as have other Republicans, including Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA), whose northern California district includes the town of Paradise, devastated by fire in 2018.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
