Will Donald Trump Republicans in Congress cause a financial disaster in California? | Opinion
The political timing of liberal Los Angeles catching on fire, just as Republicans were about to take control of Washington, couldn’t have been worse.
Just as the Congressional majority now looks to shed hundreds of billions of dollars in budget obligations to fund new ones, here comes Gov. Gavin Newsom, hands outstretched, asking for nearly $40 billion to help cover some of the public costs associated with the state’s worst disaster in modern time.
California is so vulnerable. Congress, on a razor-thin Republican majority, struggles to agree on anything.
“The impacted communities have experienced widespread devastation and the total impact on California’s economy will take years to fully quantify,” Newsom wrote to House Speaker Mike Johnson and others on Feb. 21. “The funding identified in this request totaling $39,680,737,878 will directly support these communities in both the immediate and long-term recovery work needed to rebuild lives and property from this catastrophic event.”
Newsom’s tireless, on-the-scene efforts in the aftermath of the fire have exemplified the governor at his best. With more than 16,000 structures destroyed, clearing the sites of rubble and debris has been a monumental task. With some impressive coordination with federal agencies, crews have managed to clear debris from more than 9,000 properties.
California’s response in the coming months must transition to rebuilding, both properties and economic lives. This is where so many different needs demanding so much federal help are beginning to come into play, as itemized in Newsom’s letter to the house speaker.
What Newsom is asking from Congress includes:
$5.2 billion in loans to impacted businesses
$4.32 billion in outright grants to qualifying businesses
$2 billion in low-income housing tax credits to help incentivize developers to build an estimated 6,500 new affordable housing units
Unspecified tax relief to residents who must rebuild their homes
$16.8 billion in public assistance to California governments to continue cleanup, school reconstruction and other needs
$9.9 billion via the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development “to address significant damage to housing and infrastructure”
$36.3 million for low-income victims to assist in their monthly energy bills
$12.9 million for community grants
$1 million to help support impacted 438 foster children
$1.5 million for social services
$432 million to rebuild damaged water infrastructure
The list goes on.
President Trump’s rhetoric about the Los Angeles fires has been shifting, first blaming the state for “gross incompetence” and threatening for California to make unrelated policy changes as a condition for future aid. The criticism subsided somewhat when Trump visited Los Angeles. Newsom later headed to Washington to lobby the president directly. Newsom’s letter to Congress represents the latest salvo in this evolving relationship.
The political math of Congress is simply not on California’s side. For Johnson to navigate within his Republican majority to craft any relief package for California, it’s nearly impossible to imagine a result as clean as Newsom’s detailed request without considerable strings attached.
California Republicans in Congress such as Darrell Issa of San Marcos have echoed linking aid to changes in state water management, as one example.
House Republicans are already showing some divisions on how deeply to cut the federal budget, particularly for the 72 million Americans dependent on federal Medicaid (known as Medi-Cal in California). And with only 218 Republicans currently in the 435-member house, no consensus could mean no deal until one is reached.
Here in California, it’s easy to think that we’re simply too big, and too important to the nation and world, to be allowed to fail. But this fire, and this election, puts us all in uncharted territory. California’s Democratic leadership has never been so beholden to Republicans in Washington, praying that this natural disaster doesn’t turn into a financial one.
This story was originally published February 27, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Will Donald Trump Republicans in Congress cause a financial disaster in California? | Opinion."