Florida Democrat Rep. Jared Moskowitz called out House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) assertion that he wants “conditions” put on federal aid to the blue state of California.
Johnson told CNN’s Manu Raju on Monday, “Obviously, there’s 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 in many respects, so that’s something that has to be factored in.”
Johnson added, “I think there should probably be conditions on that aid. That’s my personal view, we’ll see what the consensus is.”
Republicans, including President-elect Donald Trump, have been deeply critical of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D-CA) handling of the blazes that have reportedly killed 24 people and destroyed or damaged an estimated “12,000 houses, businesses, schools and other structures.”
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Moskowitz warned Johnson on social media that the tit-for-tat of involving politics in allocating relief aid would have dire consequences.
“This is a Mistake. 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 non partisan. I would fight democrats should they try and do this. The Speaker can find many other ways to hold people accountable.”
Politico reported Monday that a “group of House Republicans and President-elect Donald Trump talked about tying wildfire aid to a debt ceiling increase Sunday night, as the fires spreading across huge swaths of Los Angeles are estimated to become one of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history.”
Johnson was not present at the Mar-a-Lago dinner where the debt ceiling increase was reportedly discussed, but he was asked about the possibility by Raju.
“There’s some discussion about that but we’ll we where it goes,” Johnson answered.
Watch the clip below or at this link.