Brushing Aside Homeowners’ Red-Tape Nightmares, Gavin Newsom Blames Feds, Trump for Slow Recovery From California Wildfires

California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, is blaming President Trump for delaying reconstruction in Los Angeles after massive wildfires claimed 16,000 structures last January, saying Congress cannot vote on a disaster relief request sent by the governor unless it’s forwarded by the administration. As homeowners burn through their nest eggs while wading through state- and local-imposed red tape to rebuild — only about 340 homes have started reconstruction nearly a year after the fire — Mr. Newsom visited Capitol Hill on Friday, where he asked lawmakers to “have our backs, to have the American people’s backs” and support his request for $33.9 billion in disaster recovery for the Pacific Palisades and Altadena fires.“The focus now is on rebuilding homes, schools, utilities and critical infrastructure while also supporting small businesses and job growth impacted by the region,” the governor wrote in a letter to the top four leaders of the House and Senate ahead of his meetings.Though Mr. Newsom received warm support from Democrats in the California delegation during his visit on Friday, and Los Angeles’s mayor, Karen Bass, have faced ample criticism for the slow pace of rebuilding. Ms. Bass was recently called out for touting the first occupancy permit granted in the Palisades only to learn that it was granted to a builder of a model home and not a private homeowner. The amount being requested by the governor is $5.7 billion less than what he sought in February in the immediate aftermath of the fires. While the state received $7 billion in federal assistance for debris removal almost immediately, Republican lawmakers said in February they wanted to peg disaster aid to efforts to reduce the risk of future fires.Senator Rick Scott of Florida repeated that condition over the weekend. “I encourage @CAGovernor Newsom to let the public know exactly how the state has used the billions in tax dollars it has already received over the past decade that were intended for wildfire preparedness and recovery, and that witnesses on the ground allege were wasted,” Mr. Scott of Florida posted on X. Mr. Trump visited the governor on January 24 during the 24-day conflagration that started on January 7 and burned 24,000 acres in five fires. At the time, he pledged, “We’re going to get it fixed, get it permanently fixed so it can’t happen again. They are going to need a lot of federal help.” While the fires were still burning in January, the governor promised to institute a “Marshall Plan” to rebuild California. The plan was supposed to include city, civic, business, nonprofit, and labor leaders to organize philanthropists and “galvanize the community” to scale a recovery to match the scope of the disaster. California’s legislature passed $2.5 billion in disaster aid in January that it described as “bridge funding” until federal aid arrived.Residents attending a field hearing held by Mr. Scott and the chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, Senator Ron Johnson, last month said neither the city nor the state has the financial resources to tackle the problem nor the wherewithal to manage a project of that scale.The governor’s request for $33.9 billion is less than the sums approved by Congress for recovery efforts following Hurricanes Katrina in 2005 and Sandy in 2013, which cost taxpayers $62.3 billion and $60.4 billion, respectively.While in Washington, Mr. Newsom, who has not been shy about a potential White House bid, said he was denied a request to meet face-to-face with the acting director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He blamed the president for stonewalling the meeting, and said he has not come through on promises he made when he visited the disaster area in January. “Trump turned his back on survivors by refusing to even meet with us. His promise to ‘take care’ of survivors was clearly a lie,” the office said. Mr. Trump has not personally responded though his aides criticized Mr. Newsom and told media outlets that the president expedited the debris recovery funds.

Brushing Aside Homeowners’ Red-Tape Nightmares, Gavin Newsom Blames Feds, Trump for Slow Recovery From California Wildfires

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