California Gov. Gavin Newsom said President Donald Trump is ignoring a
Feb. 16 (UPI) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom is accusing President Donald Trump of ignoring a “real emergency” — the aftermath of the Camp Fire — and instead “manufacturing a crisis” by declaring an emergency of border security.
Newsom, a Democrat who took over as governor on Jan. 7, said Friday $12 billion in funds that Congress approved for disaster assistance for California, Texas, Georgia and elsewhere is “not moving.”
“You have a real disaster that needs to be cleaned up – $12 billion sitting there,” Newsom told reporters at a news conference in Sacramento. “And not even an utterance, not even a reference in today’s press conference [by Trump] of a real, pressing need and a real human crisis that’s manifesting in real time.”
On Thursday, Newsom visited Paradise in Northern California’s Butte County where more than 10,000 homes were destroyed and killed 85 people — the deadliest and destructive in California history.
“These people are under enormous stress and anxiety,” Newsom said Friday. “Survivors are “still waiting for FEMA support. Still waiting for disaster recovery money into their community.”
That includes children who lost their homes and are learning in makeshift classrooms.
Through Wednesday, Federal Emergency Management Agency had provided more than $69 million to Camp Fire survivors for individual and household relief programs. Also, FEMA has provided about $4.5 million to wildfire victims in Southern California, including the Woolsey Fire last November that killed three people and destroyed 1,643 structures.
Trump has previously threatened to cut off funding for wildfire relief because he said the state is not adequately preparing to prevent wildfires.
