California Democrats are incensed at the suggestion that disaster aid for their state, battered by wildfires around Los Angeles, should be conditioned upon Democratic lawmakers agreeing to raise the debt ceiling.
On Monday, Speaker Mike Johnson confirmed to reporters that there had been “some” talk within the House GOP conference about tying aid for California to a debt limit increase, after President-elect Donald Trump discussed the idea with Republicans at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend.
“It does come down to leadership, and it appears to us that state and local leaders were derelict in their duty in many respects, so that’s something that has to be factored in,” Johnson said. “I think there should probably be conditions on that aid, that’s my personal view. We’ll see what the consensus is.”