Speaker Johnson calls for ‘conditions’ on California wildfire aid
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He suggests help could be traded for raising the debt ceiling. House Speaker Mike Johnson suggested on Monday that lawmakers might attach “conditions” to wildfire aid for California, where blazes in Los Angeles have killed at least 25 and burned hundreds of homes, one of the worst natural disasters in state history.
“I think there should probably be conditions on that aid,” he added. Johnson also said the aid could be tied into negotiations around raising the debt ceiling. Republican lawmakers reportedly floated the idea during a Sunday meeting with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
The proposal couldn’t be more different than what’s currently coming out of the White House. Trump has threatened to withhold aid in the past for partisan reasons, and often speaks inaccurately about wildfires in the state. Last week, Trump claimed California Gavin Newsom refused to sign a “water restoration declaration” that would’ve freed up millions of additional gallons of water, a claim the governor’s office said was “pure fiction.”.
As The Independent has reported, the state did not lack water supplies when blazes descended on Los Angeles, but rather has a water system built to fight municipal-level fires, not wildfire-scale incidents inside a major city. On the campaign trail, Trump threatened to withhold wildfire aid if Newsom didn’t go along with his ideas on water policy.
