Trump to California: 'No More' Funding for You

The president unloads on Twitter
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 3, 2019 5:10 PM CST
Trump to California: 'No More' Funding for You
In this Oct. 31, 2019 file photo flames from the Hillside Fire consume a home in San Bernardino, Calif. President Donald Trump on Sunday, Nov. 3 threatened to cut US funding to California for aid during wildfires that have burned across the state during dry winds this fall.   (AP Photo/Noah Berger,File)

President Trump hit Twitter on Sunday and repeated an old plan of his: stop giving money to California to fight wildfires, USA Today reports. Gov. Gavin Newsom "has done a terrible job of forest management," the president wrote. "I told him from the first day we met that he must 'clean' his forest floors regardless of what his bosses, the environmentalists, DEMAND of him." Trump added that "every year, as the fire's [sic] rage & California burns, it is the same thing—and then he comes to the Federal Government for $$$ help. No more. Get your act together Governor." Newsom tweeted in response that because Trump doesn't "believe in climate change," he is "excused from the conversation."

Newsom's office added that federal agencies run 57% of the state's forest land, private owners 40%, and the state only 3%, per the CBC. And none of the state's big current fires are on forest land. Yet it's a threat Trump has made before, ABC News recalls. When firefighters battled the Woolsey and Camp fires last November, Trump slammed the state for "gross mismanagement of the forests" and gave an ultimatum: "Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!" Experts have said the increase in California wildfires is due to a mix of factors including development in fire-prone areas, climate change, and overgrown forests, per the Wall Street Journal. (More wildfires stories.)

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