California’s Own GOP Lawmakers Want to Condition Wildfire Aid to Their State

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TWO REPUBLICAN MEMBERS OF THE California delegation to Congress said on Monday that they support conditioning federal fire aid to their own state, even as the fires continue raging there.

“Well, I think it would be a mistake to grant money to the very same people responsible for the policies that have produced this disaster,” Rep. Tom McClintock told The Bulwark.

McClintock represents a wildfire-prone district that hasn’t yet been affected by the recent disaster. Asked why he would support conditions for residents of his own state, he said being a Californian “makes me one of the victims of these policies.”

“The policies of the elected officials in California hasn’t been fair to the residents, it’s been downright dangerous to [them],” he said.

Rep. Kevin Kiley, who represents much of the inland Sierra Nevadas and foothills—areas with their own experiences of devastating fires—said he wanted to get aid to the victims “as quickly as possible. So that’s going to be my priority.”

But the congressman remained open to demanding conditions, such as changes in water and forest management, for that aid. “I think that there’s a broader question of the federal government’s role in oversight going forward with what’s going on in California, because it’s clear that a lot of things went wrong, and we’re going to need to—I think there’s gotta be some accountability,” Kiley said.

[Editor’s note: Following the publication of this article, a spokesperson for Kiley reached out to clarify that the representative’s position “is that we may need ‘safeguards’ to assure the money reaches victims as quickly and efficaciously as possible. He doesn’t believe ‘conditions’ is the right approach.”]

Not everyone in the California delegation was willing to embrace conditional aid. Rep. Young Kim, who helped the Republican party maintain its narrow House majority by winning one of the purple Orange County districts (which is just south of the fires) told The Bulwark that she hasn’t “seen the details” of what is being discussed by party leadership when it comes to conditioning aid.

“Obviously, it’s very important for someone like me, who represents California, dealing with the fire and [state and local tax deduction caps] and everything,” Kim added. “I haven’t seen the details, so I cannot comment on it, but it is very important.”

Still, the willingness of at least some of California’s Republican delegation to say they want fire disaster relief funds to their own state conditioned on reforms from the state seriously increases the likelihood that aid will be mired in severe political gridlock.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Monday that he is open to placing policy conditions on the financial and resource aid to California, where raging fires have killed dozens and displaced thousands of residents who’ve lost their homes and businesses. The cost of recovery is estimated to be north of $50 billion.

“Obviously there’s been water resource mismanagement, forest management mistakes—all sorts of problems,” Johnson told reporters when asked about placing conditions on any future aid package. “And it does come down to leadership. It appears to us that state and local leaders were derelict in their duty in many respects. 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.”

Johnson added that he hasn’t “had a chance to socialize that with any of the members over the weekend because we’ve all been very busy, but it’ll be part of the discussion, for sure.”

In addition to Johnson, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), a steadfast Trump supporter, said he wouldn’t support sending aid unless the state changes its policies towards forest and water management.

“They don’t deserve anything, to be honest with you, unless they show us they’re gonna make some changes,” he told Newsmax.

Both Tuberville and Johnson hail from states that often are in need of federal natural disaster assistance. But those states are run by Republican lawmakers, making it more likely that both Trump and the GOP-controlled chambers of Congress would pass aid to them if needed and without conditions attached.

California, run by Democrats, has come under intense criticism by Republicans for not doing enough to prevent wild fires from spreading—a charge that state leaders and even on-the-ground firefighters have disputed.

Trump is among those leveling these charges. The president-elect has, in the past, argued that California should not receive aid for disasters, including fires, unless it changed its water policy. An ex-aide said Trump had to be talked into allowing aid to go to California during his first term in office by being presented with data showing that his own voters would be impacted.

If California Republicans themselves are now calling on aid to be conditional, it could harden Trump’s impulses.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has already expressed concern that Trump, who assumes office in one week, will withhold federal disaster aid to the state

“He’s done it in Utah. He’s done it in Michigan, did it in Puerto Rico. He did it to California back before I was even governor, in 2018, until he found out folks in Orange County voted for him and he decided to give them money,” Newsom said in an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press.