House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana on Sunday reiterated his belief that Congress should consider attaching conditions to aid for California following the wildfire disaster that destroyed many homes and parts of Los Angeles.
Newsweek reached out to the House Speaker’s office and Trump transition team by email on Sunday for comment.
The Context
California fire authorities over the past 10 days have worked to successfully contain all but the two largest wildfires – the Palisades fire and the Eaton fire, which as of Sunday afternoon local time stood at 52 percent and 81 percent contained, respectively. The fires spread rapidly due to unexpected Santa Ana winds blew the initial flames over land that had been in a drought since March 2024.
Each of those fires now rank among the most destructive fires, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection: The Eaton fire, which has burned up 14,117 acres, has destroyed around 9,300 structures, making it the second-most destructive fire in state history; the Palisades fire, which has burned up 23,713 acres, has destroyed just over 4,300 structures, making it the fourth-most destructive fire.
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However, Republicans have heavily criticized California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass for their response to the wildfires, blaming a number of factors that they attributed to Newsom’s policies, including an allegedly drained water reservoir and budget cuts to the fire department.
California authorities have ordered investigations into the various conditions that led to and exacerbated the wildfires.
U.S. Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) speaks during a press conference following a House Republican Caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol on January 14, 2025 in Washington, DC. U.S. Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) speaks during a press conference following a House Republican Caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol on January 14, 2025 in Washington, DC. Samuel Corum/Getty Images
What To Know
On Sunday, Johnson made an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press, during which host Kristen Welker addressed comments he made last week where he suggested that any relief or aid to help recover and rebuild in the aftermath of the fire be given only on condition of addressing policy concerns.
When asked if he would commit to disaster relief for California without “strings attached,” Johnson said: “No, I won’t commit that, because we have a serious problem in California.”
“Listen, there are natural disasters,” Johnson said. “I’m from Louisiana. We’re prone to that. We understand how these things work, but then there’s also human error, and when the state and local officials make foolish policy decisions that make the disaster exponentially worse, we need to factor that in, and I think that’s a commonsense notion.”
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“Listen, in California over the last couple years, they cut $100 million from forestry management,” Johnson said. “They cut, I think, almost $18 million from L.A.’s Fire Department, putting them into their other crazy priorities, and he had 117-million-gallon reservoir that was left empty for a year outside Pacific Palisades.”
“Those were decisions they made based on whatever their ideas were, but it made it worse, and everyone knew it would, and the risk was there,” he added.
When asked if he would consider linking relief to a measure requiring an increase in the national debt limit, Johnson said, “That’s one of the things we’re talking about every morning.”
What People Are Saying
When asked for comment, California Governor Gavin Newsom‘s office directed Newsweek to comments made during an interview with MSNBC political analyst Jen Psaki: “If that’s leadership, I have a different definition. I imagine it would be universally felt here. I’m not meeting Democrats, I’m not meeting Republicans, I’m not meeting Californians: I’m meeting American citizens desperate in need, and what they need is empathy, care, compassion, understanding.”
“They need support, not rhetoric, not strings attached,” Newsom said. “I met families who lost not only their home, but their business, their church, their sense of self, place, community,” adding, “That’s the face of leadership in the United States of America? Conditioning aid to the American people in need? Politicizing this tragic moment? So, I’ll spare any more commentary on it.”
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DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd in a statement: “Mike Johnson is following Donald Trump’s lead to put tax handouts for billionaires ahead of desperately needed disaster relief for Californians. Americans recovering from a disaster shouldn’t be a bargaining chip for Trump and Johnson’s reckless policies. But instead of working to provide help and lower costs for working families, Trump and Johnson are already telling us they’ll only focus on themselves and their billionaire backers over what’s best for the American people.”
Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming told FOX Business host Larry Kudlow: “It is heartbreaking what we’re seeing happening right now in California, and we have our Wyoming national guard helping out there … but there’s going to help from the federal government, you’re absolutely right: There has to be accountability for that money. It cannot be a blank check.”
“What we’ve seen, and even the fire chief of LA County has said that they were let down by the mayor, the elected officials – I mean, gross negligence at the state and local level where the fire department had $17 million taken away from their budget, and they were already stretched too thin, and they used the money for social programs,” Barrasso said.
What Happens Next
California continues to fight the fires and will focus on completely containing the two remaining major wildfires while extinguishing the other fires they managed to control over the past 10 days.
California air quality officials have sued four truck manufacturers for breaching a voluntary agreement to follow the state’s nation-leading emissions rules, the state announced Tuesday.
What happened: Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office filed a complaint Monday in Alameda County Superior Court, arguing that the country’s four largest truck-makers — Daimler Truck North America, International Motors, Paccar and Volvo North America — violated an enforceable contract that they signed with the California Air Resources Board in 2023.
The lawsuit comes two months after the manufacturers filed their own complaint in federal court, arguing the agreement — known as the Clean Truck Partnership — is no longer valid after Republicans overturned California’s Advanced Clean Truck rule in June through the Congressional Review Act.
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Why it matters: The move sets up a fight to determine whether the federal system or state courts — where CARB would have a higher likelihood of prevailing — will review the case.
California, along with other states, has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Secretary Brooke Rollins for halting SNAP benefits, cutting off food aid for over 41 million Americans, according to Attorney General Rob Bonta.
About 85% of elementary schools studied in California experienced some loss of trees between 2018 and 2022, according to a paper from the University of California, Davis, published this month in the journal Urban Forestry and Urban Greening.
Members of the UC Davis Urban Science Lab found that while the average decline was less than 2%, some districts in the Central Valley — including schools with few trees to lose — lost up to a quarter of their tree cover. The most severe losses were concentrated in Tulare County, while the most notable gains were found in Imperial County.
This map, figure 2B from the study, illustrates the net change in tree canopy cover at urban school districts between 2018 and 2022. Canopy losses tended to cluster in the Central Valley and parts of Southern California. (UC Davis)
The findings are troubling as climate change will likely intensify extreme heat and drought conditions. The study underscores an urgent need to improve tree canopy in low-shade, high-need schools and to protect existing tree cover in areas facing loss.
“We are trying to measure to what extent we are exposing kids to temperatures that might be stressing their body to a level that becomes uncomfortable or dangerous,” said Alessandro Ossola, an associate professor of plant sciences who directs the Urban Science Lab at UC Davis.
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The team continued the research this past summer at elementary schools across the state, measuring tree canopies and maximum temperatures at playgrounds, basketball courts, soccer fields and other outdoor spaces.
UC Davis researchers discovered California school playgrounds are hitting a scorching 120°F heat index. Watch as they use high-tech sensors and a roving cart named MaRTyna to measure extreme heat across elementary schools. (Jael Mackendorf/UC Davis)
Tree canopies cover only about 4% to 6% of the average California school campus. That means the roughly 5.8 million K-12 public school students in California often take breaks and participate in outdoor activities under the glaring sun.
As part of the work, researchers mapped tree cover and heat over the course of a hot day at schools in inland and coastal areas of Northern and Southern California.
UC Davis student Tyler Reece Wakabayashi works with MaRTyna, a roving cart that measures information related to mean radiant temperature and other data points. (Jael Mackendorf /UC Davis)
The research is a joint effort with UC Davis, UC Berkeley and UCLA and is funded by the U.S. Forest Service and supported by the nonprofit Green Schoolyards America through its California Schoolyard Tree Canopy study.
“Most schools are actually a nature desert, which is antithetical because we know that early life exposure of humans to nature is critical for them to develop skills, improve their microbiome, become more environmentally active and so on,” Ossola said. “Trees are a hidden asset and an underutilized asset.”
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This news release is adapted from a longer article from the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Read their full feature story, “Researchers Measure Schoolyard Heat One Step at a Time.”
