House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) was quickly fact-checked over his claim about California disaster relief Tuesday.
The Louisiana Republican confirmed months ago that GOP lawmakers had discussed tying wildfire aid to a debt limit increase, which was eventually approved as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. But he would not commit when asked Tuesday to including California in a disaster aid package.
"First of all, we wouldn't know how much to commit because there's a process, the White House in every administration, every previous Congress, the White House takes the request of the state, after the calculations are done, the assessments, there's a multi-step process to this, they take that and the request to Congress, and it goes through regular order and acts upon the request," Johnson said.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom called for billions in federal funding last week, six months after the Eaton and Palisades fires, amid his ongoing feud with the president over federal immigration raids in his state.
"We haven't had that in California yet for whatever reason," Johnson said. "Gavin Newsom seems to enjoy trying to stick his thumb in the eye of the White House and Congress, which seems to be counter-purpose if he is requesting relief. Look, we're going to do the right thing at the end of the day, we'll take care of the American people, we'll take care of our federal responsibilities. We've not seen the calculation nor the formal request, and I'm not going to act upon until we do."
"The formal request was sent to your office in February," the reporter reminded Johnson.
"I will get the request from the White House and executive branch," Johnson replied, his voice rising in pitch. "That's how this works, we're going to follow the rules."
Newsom requested $40 billion in federal funding to help rebuild homes, schools, churches and hospitals destroyed by the fires, but so far the Republican House has not made progress on the request the governor made in late February.