‘Do the right thing’: Gavin Newsom and Mike Johnson trade jabs over California wildfire aid
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Republicans have discussed making extra disaster aid part of upcoming spending negotiations and conditioning aid to California. California Governor Gavin Newsom and House Speaker Mike Johnson sparred online throughout Thursday, as Congress considers attaching conditions to future wildfire aid for California.
In the video, Newsom took Johnson and his allies to task for potentially mixing politics and disaster aid, arguing California never does that with other states, despite its large contributing to the federal budget. “Never in California, did we question, whether we or not we, as taxpayers, in the largest state in the union, should support the people of Louisiana at a time of emergency and need,” Newsom said. “We’d never condition it.”.
Newsom added that limiting future aid to California would harm millions of Republicans, too. “Millions of your supporters are out here, they need your help,” the governor continued. “They need your empathy. They need your care. Whatever compassion you can express, as opposed to condemnation and divisive language that has aided and abetted nothing except mis- and disinformation that has flamed fear and flamed a lot anxiety for folks that are simply trying to recover.”.
The back-and-forth continued, with Newsom writing that Johnson needs to “do the right thing.”. The argument came as Johnson suggested this week that Congress should put “conditions” on future wildfire aid to California, which is struggling with devastating wildfires in and around Los Angeles.
