Speaker Johnson Bashes California ‘Mismanagement,’ Says There ‘Should Probably Be Conditions’ on Federal Aid for Fires

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) offered a scathing assessment of California officials Monday and told CNN’s chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju that there “should probably be conditions” on federal aid for the fire recovery.

The Los Angeles area wildfires that have burned nearly 40,000 acres, forced the evacuations of over a hundred thousand people, and destroyed entire neighborhoods remain “mostly uncontained” as of Monday, CNN reported. In a press conference Monday morning, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said the current death toll was 21 but “sadly, yes, unfortunately, I anticipate the number to go up.”

Raju spoke with Omar Jimenez, guest anchoring on CNN News Central Monday afternoon, about his conversation with Johnson.

“Remember, typically, aid to rebuild after natural disasters typically does not have conditions,” said Raju. “Typically it’s done by significant bipartisan support.”

The incoming second administration of President-elect Donald Trump, however, had led to a “different situation,” Raju continued, with Trump and Republicans criticizing the Democratic leadership in California, and now Johnson showing “a sign that the aid to California could come with strings attached and could become a big fight in Congress.”

From the video clip:

JOHNSON: We’ve got to have a serious conversation about that. Obviously, there has been water resource mismanagement, forest management mistakes, all sorts of problems. And it does come down to leadership. And it appears to us that state and local leaders were derelict in their duty and in many respects.

So that’s something that has to be factored in. I think there should probably be conditions on that aid.

That’s my personal view. We’ll see what the consensus is. I haven’t had a chance to socialize that with any of the members over the weekend, because we’ve all been very busy, but it’ll be part of the discussion for sure.

RAJU: What about the debt limit increase? What about tying the debt limit increase to this?

JOHNSON: There’s some — some discussion about that, but we’ll see where it goes.

Democrats were “already pushing back” at Johnson’s suggestions that there “should be some strings attached” to the California fire aid, said Raju, mentioning a tweet from Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL):

“This is a Mistake,” wrote Moskowitz. “If you start this, it will never end. When Dems retake the House, they will condition aid to Florida and Texas. Disaster Aid must stay nonpartisan. I would fight democrats should they try and do this. The Speaker can find many other ways to hold people accountable.”

Nonpartisan disaster aid “has been really the tradition for many, many years,” said Raju, “even though sometimes it’s subject to negotiation.”

Watch the clip above via CNN.