California wildfires spark House Republican talks on air conditioning aid: ‘Funda mesa’

As forest fires are raging in California, Republicans in Washington began debating whether to condition federal aid on changes to policies blamed for the wildfires.

“It’s part of the debate now,” Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wis., told Fox News Digital. “People aren’t willing to just punch a check for something that, frankly, they still have a lot of questions about. And obviously, the fires are still burning, so we don’t even know what the total will be at the end of the day.”

The Los Angeles area has been battling a number of deadly wildfires in recent days, and nearly 100,000 Californians are under evacuation orders.

Officials are far from knowing what the final damage estimates will be, nor how much additional funding Congress will have to approve.

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But a large portion of Republicans already are blaming the state’s democratic fortress policy and managing to exacerbate the problem.

“I think there’s going to be a lot of questions about that, but we also want to work with, you know, everybody on both sides of the aisle,” House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., said when asked about the conditioning aid. “But I think that’s just the reality of it. There’s going to be questions we’re going to ask.”

Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb., chairman of the House Financial Services and Insurance Subcommittee, said it was too early to discuss possible specific conditions, but he criticized California’s home insurance policies.

“I think there are real issues … For too long, California state laws have pushed insurers out of the state, making it even more difficult to get home insurance,” Flood told Fox News Digital.

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“I think California has to do a couple of things. They have to show that they’re going to create an environment where home insurance, housing insurance reflects the risk, they understand the risk and they price accordingly. And then, as it relates to forest management, I think there are a lot of members of Congress who will want to say, ‘How did that happen?’ What politics led to this?'”

Meanwhile, members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, usually adamant about tough cuts to offset any additional government spending, are no different on the California wildfires.

“It has to be more than paid for. They have to own it,” Rep. Ralph Norman, RS.C., told reporters. “California has never been the most conservative state in terms of spending. In my opinion, we need to get a pound of flesh for every dollar spent on California.”

Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., who also sits on the House Appropriations Committee, told Fox News Digital: “Why would we continue to fund the same policies that caused the problem? I mean, seriously, why would you do that?”

California Republican Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., did not specifically rule out conditioning help, but said people need help as soon as possible.

“California need to change the way approach to issues of water, forest management and not to mention many other things. I think we absolutely have to demand that these changes happen. At the same time, the people who are suffering, who have lost everything, lost their homes, lost their communities, we need to help them, and we must help them… as soon as possible, and we shouldn’t let anything stand in the way.” he said.

However, not all Republicans are on board. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., whose home state has seen its fair share of natural disasters, told the Huffington Post, “I think we should provide relief like we do for everyone else.”

But the idea has gained traction among the highest levels of GOP leadership — including Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., who first introduced the conditional disaster relief to reporters Monday.

“It seems to us that state and local leaders have neglected their duty. And in many ways, and that’s something that has to be taken into account,” Johnson said. “I think there should probably be conditions for that help. That’s my personal view. We’ll see what the consensus is.”

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Meanwhile, Democrats have fiercely attacked the idea.

“Conditioning aid on suffering people who have paid more than their fair share in federal taxes is uniquely reprehensible, even to my colleagues across the aisle,” wrote Rep. Yvette Clarke, DN.Y., on X.

Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., vice chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, told reporters during a news conference Tuesday. “I just want to say that it is outrageous that President Johnson is trying to tie conditions to this disaster relief or to tie disaster relief to unrelated concepts like the debt ceiling. We should not be exploiting the pain and suffering of our fellow Americans to try to force through policy changes .”