It’s been six months since destructive wildfires devastated parts of Los Angeles County, and state and local officials are still waiting for the White House and Congress to act on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s request for $40 billion in wildfire aid.

House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office has told Spectrum News they are awaiting the Trump administration to make a formal request before Congress can act on the request. But recent comments made by President Donald Trump indicate he is not eager to approve the money.

“Hatred is never a good thing in politics. When you don’t like somebody, you don’t respect somebody, it’s harder for that person to get money,” said Trump last month as he watched an American flag be raised on the South Lawn.

His comments outraged Democrats within the California delegation.

What You Need To Know

  • It’s been six months since destructive wildfires devastated parts of Los Angeles county, and state and local officials are still waiting for the White House and Congress to act on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s request for $40 billion in wildfire aid

  • Last month, when asked if his public brush-ups with Gov. Newsom would impact wildfire relief, President Trump said “hatred is never a good thing in politics. When you don't like somebody, you don't respect somebody, it's harder for that person to get money"

  • California Democrats were outraged by the president's comments, saying they would never politicize aid for a red state

“I hope he keeps in mind that he is the president for all the people,” said Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., whose district was impacted by the fires.

“I think it’s clearly wrong,” said Rep. George Whitesides, D-Calif., who also has constituents impacted. “It’s also in opposition to what he said at the press conference following the fires that I attended. And so we’re going to hold him to this promise to make sure that the California homeowners get the protection and reimbursement of aid.”

Within days of returning to the White House, President Trump and first lady Melania Trump visited California and toured some of the damage. He told reporters following a brief meeting with Gov. Newsom on the tarmac at LAX that “there can be no Golden Age without the Golden State. It’s a great state. It’s a fantastic place.”

But California Democrats are waiting for Trump to put his money where his mouth is.

“We can never turn to an individual in Louisiana and say, ‘you should sleep on your cousin’s couch forever because we don’t like what’s happening in Baton Rouge,’ we disagree with this or that in your state government,” said Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., who represents the Pacific Palisades. “It’s absolutely outrageous.”

“This divide between the president and California — this has never happened before. We are the United States of America. That’s the name of the country,” fumed Rep. Scott Peters, D-Calif. “We would never say no to Louisiana if they need help from flooding. They’ve never said no to us if we need help from fire. Let’s not start that division.”

Although every California Republican signed a letter to congressional leaders earlier this year supporting the aid request, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., seemed to suggest to Spectrum News that he is ok with the president withholding aid in order to leverage the governor to change his policies.

“Yes, we do have a tiff between [Trump and Newsom], but the tiff between the two is over policies — policies where California is putting people at fire risk by not willing to do it. We can’t just give you the money if, in fact, you burned down your own neighborhood,” argued Issa. “To a certain extent, California is setting California up for failure. We need to have some alignment of policies consistent with the rest of the government. And if the president is using that as a lever to get the right thing for the people of California, he’s doing exactly what my constituents want.”

Despite the president’s comments last month and the lack of action from Congress so far, Newsom struck an optimistic tone Monday about the federal government passing a relief package in the near future, and endorsed aid for other states in need, including Texas.

“I’m going to South Carolina. I think they should get every penny of what they need. North Carolina should get every penny of what they need. Proud to be there in Louisiana and Speaker Johnson’s old district. He should have gotten every penny that they received, every penny that they need, every resource that we can provide, including resources from the state that we offered early Friday morning to Greg Abbott, we should provide,” said Newsom during a press conference to mark the 6-month anniversary of the fires.

“That’s the spirit that defines the best of this country, our nation, that’s about to celebrate its 250th anniversary. Absolutely, I expect that we will figure out a path — a bipartisan path — to support the people of the United States of America. And those include the 40 million Americans residing in California,” he added.

Before the deadly flooding in Texas, Spectrum News asked a number of California Democrats if they would reject disaster aid for a red state if California doesn’t get the aid it has requested. Not a single Democrat said they would vote to withhold aid.

“I will continue to hold to my belief that we should help every American in this country. And I would support the dispensation of aid to everybody across the United States, regardless of whether it’s a blue or red state,” Chu said.