California Republicans object after Trump threatens wildfire aid
SACRAMENTO/ WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump lashed out once more at California on Wednesday for a series of devastating wildfires he blames on poor forest management, threatening to withhold federal disaster aid in a Twitter blast that drew rebukes from lawmakers in his own party.
But Trump’s tweet, the latest of several in recent months accusing California of bringing wildfires on itself, appeared to be a largely empty ultimatum, presuming presidential authority he lacks under federal statutes.
One such law expressly bars the president from acting to ‘delay or impede’ disaster relief once a federal emergency or disaster declaration has been made.
Trump’s threat to withhold Federal Emergency Management Agency ( FEMA) assistance to California came two days after newly elected Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, used the occasion of his swearing-in to critique the “corruption and incompetence” of the Republican president.
Beyond Newsom, who has vowed to position California as a counterweight to Trump, the deeply blue state is home to some of the president’s most outspoken political foes, including US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The San Francisco Democrat is leading the fight in the US
Billions of dollars are sent to the State of California for Forest fires that, with proper Forest Management, would never happen. Tweet by Donald Trump, US president
Congress against Trump’s demands for US5.7 billion in funding to build a wall along the US- Mexico border, pitting congressional Democrats against Trump in a standoff leading to a prolonged partial closure of the federal government.
Pivoting from weeks of headlines dominated by the shutdown, Trump returned to his commentary that California’s supposed mishandling of its forests and water resources were chiefly to blame for a fire season that ranks as the most destructive on record.
“Billions of dollars are sent to the State of California for Forest fires that, with proper Forest Management, would never happen,” Trump wrote on Twitter, a day after Western governors asked for greater federal investment in wildfire prevention.
Research shows the growing frequency and intensity of wildfires in California and other Western states are largely attributable to prolonged drought, symptomatic of climate change. The Trump administration has rejected or downplayed the role of climate change in the worsening wildfire picture.
Trump’s latest tweet drew a sharp reaction from the state Assembly’s top Republican and two Republican legislators representing the area around the northern California town of Paradise, which was mostly incinerated in a wildfire that killed 86 people and destroyed nearly 14,000 homes in November.
Trump toured the Camp Fire zone in November, promising “to take care of the people who have been so badly hurt.”
State Senator Jim Nielsen and Assemblyman James Gallagher said in a joint statement Trump’s threat to withhold FEMA funds from California “is wholly unacceptable.”
“He made a commitment to the people who have lost everything in these fires, and we expect the federal government to follow through with his promise.”
Fellow Republican Marie Waldron, the Assembly’s minority leader, said separately that anything less than total government support for the fire victims “is inappropriate and unhelpful.”
FEMA said it could not respond to queries about Trump’s order due to the partial government shutdown. Gallagher said FEMA centers around Paradise remained open on Wednesday.