Kamala Harris pushes back on Trump threat: Don’t play politics with FEMA funds

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) on Wednesday called on President Trump to combat climate change rather than “withhold money from survivors” after he threatened to cut Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funding for California.

“Californians endured the deadliest wildfire in our state’s history last year. We should work together to mitigate these fires by combating climate change, not play politics by threatening to withhold money from survivors of a deadly natural disaster,” Harris wrote in a tweet.

Californians endured the deadliest wildfire in our state’s history last year. We should work together to mitigate these fires by combating climate change, not play politics by threatening to withhold money from survivors of a deadly natural disaster. pic.twitter.com/uMopf0Z05i

— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) January 9, 2019

{mosads}Trump earlier Wednesday morning threatened to cut off federal aid to California for forest fires, claiming that the fires wouldn’t happen if the state had better forest management.

He said he had ordered FEMA to cut funding “unless they get their act together.”

“Billions of dollars are sent to the State of California for Forrest (sic) fires that, with proper Forrest (sic) Management, would never happen,” Trump tweeted. “Unless they get their act together, which is unlikely, I have ordered FEMA to send no more money. It is a disgraceful situation in lives & money!”

Trump sent the same tweet later on Wednesday with the correct spelling of “forest.” 

FEMA and California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) office each did not immediately return requests for comment from The Hill.

Deadly wildfires ravaged California in 2018. The Camp Fire in Northern California became the deadliest and most destructive fire in the state’s history, killing at least 85 people and causing significant structural damage.

Trump has often blamed poor forest management, rather than climate change, for those fires. During a visit to the state last year, he said other countries, including Finland, prevent wildfires because they do a better job “raking and cleaning and doing things.”