Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-WY) came out against any idea of a “blank check” passing through Congress to provide aid to California as the wildfires continue to devastate the Los Angeles area.
Speaking on CBS News’s Face the Nation on Sunday, the Wyoming senator was adamant that any sort of supplementary aid provided to Southern California should come with “strings attached,” blasting policies from Democratic officials that he believes have worsened the destruction.
“There can’t be a blank check on this, however, because people want to make sure that as rebuilding occurs, as things go on in California, they have to be resilient so that these sorts of things can’t happen again, and the policies of the liberal administration out there I believe have made these fires worse,” Barrasso said.
“I expect that 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,” he added.
California Democratic officials, particularly Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA), have been slammed by Republicans throughout the past week as new information has come out about the state’s budget, including the state cutting $100 million away from wildfire and forest resilience.
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Newsom has attempted to combat some of the allegations, but he was subject to a fact-check by a reporter earlier Sunday that a reservoir in the Palisades was indeed not full, something President-elect Donald Trump pointed out.
The death toll from the wildfires is now at 16 as strong winds are expected on Monday.
