'It's Unpatriotic To Do Disaster Relief Based On Part Registration': Ted Lieu Slams GOP

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At a House Democratic press briefing on Tuesday, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) spoke about disaster relief for California following wildfires.

Transcript

00:00I just came back from the House press conference where I pressed Speaker Mike Johnson about

00:05disaster relief and the fact that obviously Congress is going to have to take up some sort

00:10of package over the next several weeks, whether it be Texas, Carolinas, California, and so on.

00:15And I asked him if he could guarantee whether or not California would be included in a package

00:19if the president doesn't ask for it, since he's inclined not to, since he has some public

00:26leave with the governor, and the speaker wouldn't commit to that.

00:30So are Democrats as a caucus prepared to potentially face a vote where California is not in any

00:37package, and will they reject that and say, you know, disaster aid has always been a by-person

00:42effort here in Congress?

00:44Yeah, I mean, that's our underlying message is it shouldn't matter whether you live in

00:49a blue state or a red state.

00:50If you experience a natural disaster and you need help from the federal government, we should

00:55be there to help.

00:56That's it.

00:57That's the bottom line.

00:59Not red states get faster attention and blue states don't, or we don't send help to one

01:06and the other.

01:08If this speaker wants to be the first speaker in American history to politicize disaster recovery

01:14and assistance and to penalize states from another political party of his own, then that might

01:21be the legacy he wants to leave, in addition to the legacy of kicking people off of health

01:27care.

01:27That would be unfortunate.

01:29But we'll see what happens.

01:33But we are committed, and I'll defer to the vice chair as a member of the California delegation

01:38as well.

01:38We are committed to hold Republicans accountable to this.

01:42This is a very simple solution.

01:44This isn't about Texas or California or North Carolina or New Mexico.

01:50The funds that Congress puts dollars into need to be replenished.

01:57There's a series of them from SBA to FEMA.

02:01All of these funds are going to be strapped for cash because of the claims that will be

02:06filed.

02:07We just need to replenish those funds, irrespective of the claims and where they're coming from.

02:12That's it.

02:13That's the solution.

02:15Replenish the Disaster Relief Fund and the associated counts that respond to disasters.

02:21It doesn't matter where people apply.

02:25If they meet the qualifications and come from a state that has experienced a disaster, they

02:31will apply.

02:32And so let's keep the states out of it and just replenish the funds.

02:35That's our message to our Republican colleagues.

02:37I hope that cooler heads prevail and I hope that people who pride themselves on supporting

02:43this place as an institution meet that moment.

02:48I'm concerned that Donald Trump leading this and leading them poses a risk to that.

02:55But I hold out hope that they will push back and work with us in a bipartisan way.

03:00Vice Chair Liu.

03:00There are more Republicans living in Southern California than a number of red states.

03:07So why would Trump and Republicans want to punish Republicans who happen to live in

03:12Southern California?

03:13It makes no sense.

03:14It's un-American.

03:15It's unpatriotic to do disaster relief based on party registration or ideology.

03:21I also note that Trump and Republicans are making drastic cuts to organizations like the

03:28National Weather Service that in a time like this, when you're seeing more and more extreme

03:32weather events, we actually need more people at the National Weather Service, not less.

03:37And I ask Trump and Republicans to reverse those devastating cuts.

03:41Sweetheart thing?

03:42Thank you very much.

03:58Thank you very much.

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