California Republicans object after Trump
threatens wildfire aid
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[January 10, 2019]
By Sharon Bernstein and Susan Heavey
SACRAMENTO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S.
President Donald Trump lashed out once more at California on Wednesday
for a series of devastating wildfires he blames on poor forest
management, threatening to withhold federal disaster aid in a Twitter
blast that drew rebukes from lawmakers in his own party.
But Trump's tweet, the latest of several in recent months accusing
California of bringing wildfires on itself, appeared to be a largely
empty ultimatum, presuming presidential authority he lacks under federal
statutes.
One such law expressly bars the president from acting to "delay or
impede" disaster relief once a federal emergency or disaster declaration
has been made.
Trump's threat to withhold Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
assistance to California came two days after newly elected Governor
Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, used the occasion of his swearing-in to
critique the "corruption and incompetence" of the Republican president.
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Beyond Newsom, who has vowed to position California as a counterweight
to Trump, the deeply blue state is home to some of the president's most
outspoken political foes, including U.S. House of Representatives
Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The San Francisco Democrat is leading the fight in the U.S. Congress
against Trump's demands for $5.7 billion in funding to build a wall
along the U.S.-Mexico border, pitting congressional Democrats against
Trump in a standoff leading to a prolonged partial closure of the
federal government.
Pivoting from weeks of headlines dominated by the shutdown, Trump
returned to his commentary that California's supposed mishandling of its
forests and water resources were chiefly to blame for a fire season that
ranks as the most destructive on record.
"Billions of dollars are sent to the State of California for Forest
fires that, with proper Forest Management, would never happen," Trump
wrote on Twitter, a day after Western governors asked for greater
federal investment in wildfire prevention.
"Unless they get their act together, which is unlikely, I have ordered
FEMA to send no more money. It is a disgraceful situation in lives &
money!" the president said, referring to the Federal Emergency
Management Agency.
Research shows the growing frequency and intensity of wildfires in
California and other Western states are largely attributable to
prolonged drought, symptomatic of climate change. The Trump
administration has rejected or downplayed the role of climate change in
the worsening wildfire picture.
Trump's latest tweet drew a sharp reaction from the state Assembly's top
Republican and two Republican legislators representing the area around
the northern California town of Paradise, which was mostly incinerated
in a wildfire that killed 86 people and destroyed nearly 14,000 homes in
November.
Trump toured the Camp Fire zone in November, promising "to take care of
the people who have been so badly hurt."
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![](../images/011019PICS/news_u37.jpg)
Firefighters battle flames overnight during a wildfire that burned
dozens of homes in Thousand Oaks, California, U.S. November 9, 2018.
REUTERS/Eric Thayer
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'WHOLLY UNACCEPTABLE'
State Senator Jim Nielsen and Assemblyman James Gallagher said in a
joint statement Trump's threat to withhold FEMA funds from
California "is wholly unacceptable.""He made a commitment to the
people who have lost everything in these fires, and we expect the
federal government to follow through with his promise."
Fellow Republican Marie Waldron, the Assembly's minority leader,
said separately that anything less than total government support for
the fire victims "is inappropriate and unhelpful."
FEMA said it could not respond to queries about Trump's order due to
the partial government shutdown. Gallagher said FEMA centers around
Paradise remained open on Wednesday.
U.S. Representative Doug LaMalfa, a Republican whose congressional
district encompasses Paradise, also chided Trump, saying "threats to
FEMA funding are not helpful and will not solve the longer-term
forest management regulatory problems."
Experts agree much of California's forests have become enormous
tinder boxes filled with drought-desiccated timber - a situation
worsened by overgrowth from decades of suppressing natural fire
cycles necessary to maintain a healthy woodland balance.
To that end, the state enacted a sweeping plan last year to double
the amount of land open to the thinning of fire-prone brush and dead
and dying trees, while streamlining permits needed for landowners to
clear such vegetation.
More than half of the 33 million acres (13.3 million hectares) of
forest lands in California are managed by federal agencies,
according to the University of California's Division of Agriculture
and Natural Resources. State and local agencies control only 3
percent, and the rest is privately owned.
On Tuesday, the governors of California, Oregon and Washington asked
federal agencies to "double" their investment in forest management
in a letter to the White House.
California plans to spend $1 billion on forest management over the
next five years, the letter said, and has spent $111.3 million since
2017.
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(Reporting by Susan Heavey in Washington, Jonathan Allen in New York
and Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento; Writing by Nick Zieminski and
Steve Gorman; Editing by Bill Tarrant and Sandra Maler)
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