Republicans: We Want ‘Strings Attached’ to California Fire Aid

Senate Whip John Barrasso (left) and Senator Bill Hagerty (right)
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Two Republican senators have said they expect the new Republican-led Congress to ask for a laundry list of requirements to be met before allocating disaster aid to authorities in wildfire-ravaged Los Angeles.

Neither, however, were clear on what specific actions local leaders may need to take to unlock the desperately needed funding.

In interviews on Sunday morning, Senate Whip John Barrasso and Sen. Bill Hagerty both stressed the need for extensive public hearings to dissect the “gross mismanagement” of Democratic leaders in the city and state following the blazes, which have already killed at least 16 people and displaced thousands of others across Southern California.

“There can’t be a blank check on this,” Barrasso said in an interview on CBS News’s Face the Nation. “I expect there will be strings attached to money that is ultimately approved, and it has to do with being ready the next time because this was a gross failure this time.”

Barrasso added it was “heartbreaking” to hear Los Angeles fire chief Kristin Crowley say they suffered budget cuts when they were already stretched thin.

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Crowley previously said the city failed the fire department, claiming that her department took a $17-million budget cut that left them short on staff.

“The policies of the liberal administration out there, I believe, have made these fires worse,” Barrasso said.

In a separate interview on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo, Hagerty said there was a “failure of policy” and “failure of leadership” in California that required Congress to condition aid on certain changes in governance.

“Whether it’s Gavin Newsom prioritizing a fish over his citizens or a leader like Karen Bass, the mayor, who prioritizes DEI initiatives over the readiness of first responders, it’s absolutely pathetic what has happened there,” he said.

Hagerty appeared to reference Donald Trump’s claim that Newsom’s efforts to conserve the endangered Delta smelt led to a water shortage when the fires broke out—a claim with little evidence to back it up.

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Experts have attributed the shortage to the city’s aging infrastructure, which isn’t designed to handle a blaze as big as the one that broke out in the Palisades—let alone multiple large fires across several neighborhoods.

Like Barrasso, Hagerty also demanded an investigation into California’s wildfire response.

“Before we put funds into place, we’ve got to find out exactly how we’re going to hold these leaders accountable and what sort of policy changes are required,” he said.

He also suggested that the Department of Government Efficiency—Trump’s White House panel helmed by billionaires Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk—could be entrusted with auditing local authorities and coming up with the conditions for disaster aid to be allocated.

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“When Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk take a hard look at how we effectively deploy resources here, we’re going to have to see some very real changes,” he said.

In response to the comments, Democrats were appalled.

Chris Murphy, the pair’s Senate colleague from Connecticut, called out the sentiment Sunday as callous and hypocritical.

“C’mon. We aren’t idiots. Republicans never ask for ‘strings’ attached to disaster funding for Republican states,” Murphy said. “This isn’t about helping California. This is about punishing California because it votes for Democrats.”