But that’s not what California Republican lawmakers have been pushing: Policy reforms introduced by state GOP legislators are more focused on increasing controlled burns and other wildfire prevention by suspending environmental laws. And some Republican Congress members who represent swing districts have flatly rejected any conditions on aid, including Orange County Republican Rep. Young Kim.
“When natural disaster hits your communities, it is not partisan, it is not a blue or red issue — we are talking about life and death,” Kim said in an interview on Fox 11 Los Angeles. “We are talking about communities that are hurting, so there shouldn’t be any conditions other than making sure we bring the resources and aid as soon as possible to our communities.”
California Democrats agree.
Rep. George Whitesides, who just flipped a Los Angeles swing district, called the idea of conditioning aid “absolutely unacceptable and really quite offensive.”
“To say to these people, because of politics, we need to slow down or reduce the aid of the type that we have given to North Carolina and Louisiana and Florida?” he said. “We need to get these people help in a huge amount as fast as we can.”
While Democrats are standing united on that issue, debate on Thursday over the Trump-related legal aid was more contentious in the state Capitol. The plan consisted of two bills: one to set aside $25 million for the state Department of Justice, which filed its first suit this week against Trump’s bid to end birthright citizenship, and another to earmark $25 million for nonprofits to represent Californians facing detention or deportation.
“These are the people that take care of our kids, that work in the fields, that do the landscaping, that work in a number of different industries, whether it’s construction or hospitality,” said state Sen. Anna Caballero (D–Merced). “How are we going to get things done?”
Republicans were joined in their opposition to the first proposal by Sen. Melissa Hurtado, a Democrat whose Central Valley district voted for Trump by nine points in November.
“I feel, personally, that ‘Trump-proofing’ is a missed opportunity to urge the president for meaningful change,” Hurtado said. “We should be working with the president to ensure that public safety deportations are targeted, protecting communities from genuine threats while safeguarding the dignity and rights of hardworking immigrants.”