USAT reports: ‘Conditions’ should be placed on California wildfire aid: House Speaker Mike Johnson.
While talking to reporters on Monday, the Louisiana Republican said that there should be “conditions” on proposed federal aid to California following the deadly fires still burning in the Los Angeles region.
“Obviously there’s been water resources management, 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 in many respects,” Johnson told reporters at the Capitol. “So that’s something that has to be factored in. I think there should probably be conditions on that aid. That’s my personal view.”
Let me start with something that is obvious but worth underscoring. There is no doubt that mistakes were made prior to this fire because there will be mistakes in any human endeavor. The thing is that neither I, nor Johnson, know which particular mistakes were made and, more importantly, if any of those mistakes were ultimately relevant to the scale of the disaster. It seems almost impossible to suggest that Congress would know the appropriate remedies to attach as conditions for aid.
Worse, what Johnson is reacting to is not information from California. Instead, he is basically riffing off Trump’s social media and cable news complaints about water management in California.
You know, stuff like this.
That is just so much fantastical word salad. Also: anyone who knows even a passing amount about water disputes in California knows that the southern part of the state has no problem taking water from the northern part. Moreover, the notion that there is easily accessed water resources that are being refused is just nonsense. See, also, via PBS: Fact-checking misinformation about the Los Angeles wildfires and California water policy.
And so you get stuff like Johnson, or this from another GOP member of Congress.
Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said in an interview with Newsmax that he would not vote for aid “unless we see a dramatic change in how they’re gonna be handling these things in the future … These are decisions Californian Democrats have made … It’s their fault.”
This is, of course, just echoing the party’s leader.
Trump said Wednesday that Newsom should resign as the fires raged and multiplied, posting on Truth Social: “One of the best and most beautiful parts of the United States of America is burning down to the ground. It’s ashes, and Gavin Newscum (sic) should resign. This is all his fault!!!”
I know this behavior is nothing new for Trump, and is just a reminder of what we are in for for the next four years, but it still is depressing to note the ignorant and juvenile irresponsibility of it all.
Speaking of ignorant, more from the president-elect.
“No more,” Trump said on X. “Get your act together Governor. You don’t see close to the level of burn in other states.”
Somehow I figured that was not the case, so like an actual adult who cares about facts, I looked it up.
Here are the top ten acres per state that burned in 2022 (source).
| State | Number of fires | Number of acres burned |
| Alaska | 595 | 3,110,976 |
| New Mexico | 748 | 859,906 |
| Texas | 12,571 | 671,800 |
| Oregon | 2,117 | 456,082 |
| Idaho | 1,088 | 436,733 |
| Oklahoma | 2,811 | 385,133 |
| California | 7,884 | 309,287 |
| Washington | 1,492 | 173,659 |
| Florida | 2,784 | 164,774 |
| Montana | 2,087 | 137,509 |
Weirdly, it might just be that the vastness of Alaska coupled with its meager population means no one pays that much attention to fires there as opposed to, you know, densely populated areas in the country’s most populated state. Funny how that works.
Back to the initial issue: yes, let’s correct mistakes. Let’s learn lessons. But, of course, disaster aid is to deal with the results of disasters, not to be used as a cudgel to make political points.
Florida Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz responded to the remark in a post on X, saying: “This is a mistake.”
“If you start this, it will never end,” he said. “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.”
Indeed.
