Congress braces for California wildfire fallout
House lawmakers are bracing for what could be a contentious battle over emergency spending in the wake of the wildfires that are tearing through Southern California — an unprecedented disaster that’s already estimated to have caused more than $50 billion in damage in and around Los Angeles.
While both parties united quickly in December to provide more than $100 billion in emergency aid for hurricanes and other disasters, the wild card this time around will be President-elect Trump, who is already blaming California Democrats for the scale of the destruction.
The debate won’t happen immediately. The fires are still raging; the ultimate price tag is yet unknown; and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) says it has enough cash on hand to respond to a number of disasters around the country, including the California wildfires, in the near term.
Still, those emergency funds will have to be replenished at some point in the not-too-distant future, when Trump is in the White House. That’s creating uncertainty because the incoming president has long-accused FEMA of mismanaging funds, including last year when he claimed falsely that the agency had redirected disaster aid to house migrants who lack permanent legal status. And some GOP leaders — who are already under pressure from their right flank to slash deficit spending — are also airing concerns about how FEMA manages its operations.
“There’s some very patriotic people that work for FEMA on the ground, they do their dead-level best. But as with any organization: It’s leadership, and there is some concern about it,” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters Thursday in the Capitol.
“I frankly have not had a lot of time to dig into what’s happening in California at the moment because we’ve got so much going on,” Johnson added. “But I’m sure I’ll........
© The Hill
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