Summary
House Speaker Mike Johnson stated that federal aid for California’s devastating Los Angeles wildfires, which have killed at least 24 and displaced nearly 200,000 people, should come with conditions, citing alleged failures by state and local leaders.
Johnson also hinted at tying aid to debt ceiling negotiations.
Other Republican leaders, including Senators John Barrasso and Ron Johnson, expressed similar views, blaming liberal policies for exacerbating the fires.
Critics denounce these positions as cruel, given the scale of destruction, with over 12,000 buildings lost and massive evacuation orders in effect.
I hate this century so goddamn much.
Tell me republicans, what California policies have the evil democrats done to cause the fires or made it worse?
I was told there would be no fact checking.
Johnson also hinted at tying aid to debt ceiling negotiations
Some of us here will be directly affected by Johnson’s debt ceiling concessions. How does it feel to be commoditized like this, to the point of your household becoming a bargaining chip?
You, personally, are worth no more to Johnson &co than the number of services Newman is willing to cut (and thus how many citizens will be pressed) in order to meet Johnson’s demands.
That’s infuriating, and it flies in the face of humanitarianism. Slaps it right in the face.
If I was governor of California:
Sure, go ahead. We’ll stop paying Federal taxes. Let the red states crumble as they don’t have our funds. You hold us hostage, we’ll play by your games. You go low, we go low.
Maybe then we’ll have some sort of progress as a nation for the first time in years.
The economy of the State of California is the largest in the United States, with a $4.080 trillion gross state product (GSP) as of 2024.[1] It is the largest sub-national economy in the world. If California were a nation it would rank in terms of nominal GDP as the world’s sixth largest economy, behind India (4.27 trillion) and ahead of the United Kingdom (3.588 trillion).
And we are also a donor state. Even with all the RnD that we have.
California is welcome to become Canada’s 4th territory or 11th province (both are equal).
I don’t know if we can help you a lot, but we definitely won’t treat you like shit.
Here’s hoping Mike meets his Luigi soon.
The Government of Fucking Putin and their America Last agenda.
If y’all want to see what happens to the federal budget when California stops paying, keep it up.
Should probably stop giving the free money to moochy red states though.
These fucking ghouls are cartoonish in their villainy.
Jesus, wasn’t it like a month ago and all Republicans could talk about was how biden was withholding aid from Florida. What’s the point of all these arguments if one side decidedly won’t argue in good faith?
Being hypocritical is something they embrace. It shows weakness to argue with them and they know it. They are essentially terroristic in nature and no one should ever have an actual good faith discussion with them since they have proven time and time again that they are incapable.
There’s no point, just distraction. They both want the dollar out of your pocket, all the pointing fingers is just so people don’t notice it’s ultimately the same hand.
How about you hold your own Johnson
None of these people are serving the United States. They need to be removed.
by force
After the east coast relief was swift and without condition, as it should be.
Remember the red states take more than they contribute, now on top, they will restrict access to the federal tax funds that California disproportionately contributes to keep this rotting corpse of a country afloat.
The Republicans are the bad guy from the 80s movie. They are hanging from the cliff about to die, the hero reaches out to save them, they climb up the hero’s outstretched arm to safety and then immediately turn and kick the hero off the cliff with a boot to the back of the head.
When can I stop paying federal taxes? I don’t get anything in return for them.
I honestly think this is going to be the start of hopefully cold civil unrest. GOP will block federal aid, California and maybe other blue states will stop paying federal taxes. Red states start imploding.
Yeah except Democrats are generally too cowardly to actually go that far. The most we’ll probably see is lots of lawsuits against the federal government from blue states like during the last Trump admin.
One can only hope
States don’t pay taxes – people do. *
*And corporations.
California should be like: “We will not negotiate with terrorists.”
The entire qon thing of “California bad” is just so very fucking stupid. It’s clear they are very jealous of California, which is arguably our most important state.
