DORAL, Fla. — Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., suggested Monday that he is open to conditioning California wildfire aid on forcing the state to embrace voter ID laws.
President Donald Trump floated the idea on Friday, the same day he visited flame-ravaged Los Angeles.
Johnson said he had not spoken with Trump personally about the issue yet but criticized the progressive stronghold’s handling of elections and other policy decisions that led to the fire.
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“Listen, there are a lot of issues going on in California, and we have been lamenting the lack of voter security there for some time,” Johnson said.
He then referenced three seats in California that Republicans lost in close House races this past November – though there have been no reports or instances of fraud detected in any of those matchups.
“We saw three of our seats, frankly, slip away from us in the weeks that it took to continue counting ballots in California, when seemingly every other state in the nation, in America, can get it done. It’s inexcusable,” Johnson said. “[California Gov. Gavin Newsom] provides, I think, such a lack of leadership there in so many ways, and it was highlighted by the disaster with the fires.”
Democrats, including Newsom, have widely panned Republican suggestions of conditioning wildfire aid to California. Several have noted in their attacks that Johnson’s home state of Louisiana has been a recipient of federal aid through multiple hurricane seasons.
But Johnson said the discussions were “a common sense notion that is supported by the vast majority of the American people who do not want to subsidize crazy California leftist policies.”
“Now, what the terms are and the details of that, we will be working it out. But entwined in all of that is the concern about election security in California. And voter ID is a matter that, again, comports with common sense, that most American people see the value in,” Johnson said.
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Johnson and other House GOP leaders held a press conference to kick off their annual issues conference at Trump’s golf course near Miami, Florida.
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They will be in South Florida through Wednesday discussing how to carry out Trump’s vision for an active first 100 days of his new administration.
Johnson also suggested that conditioning wildfire aid to California will be a topic of discussion when Trump meets with House Republicans during their retreat on Monday evening.
Newsom told reporters when asked about Trump’s suggestion, “I have all the confidence in the world we’ll work that out.”
