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Gov. Jeff Landry says ‘strings attached’ to federal disaster aid is nothing new

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Gov. Jeff Landry says ‘strings attached’ to federal disaster aid is nothing new

By Julie O'Donoghue
Gov. Jeff Landry says ‘strings attached’ to federal disaster aid is nothing new
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Snow covers the grounds of the Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge. The entire southern portion of the state anticipated record snowfall Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, and subfreezing temperatures through most of the week. (Elise Plunk/Louisiana Illuminator)

Republican Gov. Jeff Landry says the president and Congress would be doing nothing wrong by placing conditions on the billions of dollars in disaster assistance it provides to states in times of crisis.

Landry’s comments backed up those made last week by fellow Louisianian and U.S. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, who is in a heated public debate with California Gov. Gavin Newsom over federal relief for wildfires in the Los Angeles area.

“I don’t think that the things that Speaker Johnson is talking about are things that are new to disaster aid,” Landry said at a Monday news conference focused on a severe winter storm that has since moved into Louisiana.

“We are used to that. FEMA, many times, adds conditions, especially to some of the relief that we get for hurricanes, like requiring us to … elevate our homes and whatnot along the coast,” Landry said. 

“I think as long as what Congress puts in place is attributable to the disaster, then that certainly is reasonable,” the governor added. 

Johnson and President Donald Trump have repeatedly accused Newsom, a Democrat, of mishandling California’s wildfire outbreak.  

“We are watching fires still tragically burn from weeks ago without even a token of defense,” Trump said during his inauguration speech Monday

Johnson implied the fires – not yet contained but already one of the largest natural disasters in the country’s history – were made worse because of “human error” on the part of Newsom and other Democrats. Trump has leaned on disinformation to place blame on California’s governor.

“When state and local officials make foolish policy decisions that make the disaster exponentially worse. We need to factor that in,” to any decision to provide assistance, Johnson said during a Sunday morning appearance of “Meet the Press.” 

The speaker went on to accuse Newsom of mismanaging California’s forests and reservoirs in the Los Angeles area.

Making Newsom look inept in a time of crisis also has some political advantages for Republicans. The California governor is one of the most prominent Democrats in the country and a chief political rival of Trump’s. California officials are expected to sue the Trump administration over several of the executive orders Trump has already signed.

Some of the strings attached to California’s wildfire aid might have little to do with environmental management or Newsom’s policies, however.

Johnson and other Republicans have floated the idea of tying the wildfire recovery package to a congressional vote Trump and Johnson are pushing to raise the debt ceiling. Without that vote, the United States would risk default on its $36 trillion worth of debt and cause a downturn in the global economy, according to Politico.

Officials who represent disaster-prone Louisiana have traditionally been more sensitive to injecting partisan politics into disaster recovery negotiations in Washington, particularly after Hurricane Katrina.

It was perceived that then-Gov. Kathleen Blanco, a Democrat, didn’t initially get the support she needed from then-President George W. Bush, a Republican, to deal with the Hurricane Katrina crisis in 2005 because of the two leaders’ political differences. But ultimately Louisiana received billions of dollars of federal Katrina assistance that lasted several years.