‘Non-starter’: California Democrats blast GOP’s fire trade

Democrats are rejecting a tentative pitch by House Republicans to attach wildfire aid to a federal debt limit increase.

GOP lawmakers began floating the idea in meetings this weekend with incoming President Donald Trump. The thinking behind the plan, according to House Republicans, is that they’ll need bipartisan support to raise the cap on federal borrowing authority in the coming months and that including assistance for fire-stricken Southern California would be an incentive for Democrats to help solve one of Trump’s most pressing economic problems this year.

But Democrats are refusing to entertain the deal.

”Why would you be trying to link completely unrelated issues?” California Rep. Ted Lieu, vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus, said in an interview. “We've always helped victims of disasters, and to leverage their pain and suffering on totally unrelated issues — that is inappropriate.”

The GOP’s emerging gambit and Democrats’ immediate resistance underscore the dilemma that Republicans face when it comes to raising the debt ceiling and preventing a U.S. default later this year. Hardline fiscal conservatives who have long balked at debt limit increases pose a huge hurdle for Speaker Mike Johnson, where the narrow Republican majority leaves little room to advance legislation along party lines.

"I appreciate Johnson telling everybody he doesn't have the votes to raise the debt ceiling by telling us he wants to link it to disaster aid," Rep. Jared Moskowitz, a Florida Democrat, said in an interview. "If he wants to raise the debt ceiling, he's going to have to talk to Democrats, not try to condition disaster aid."

Rep. Robert Garcia, another California Democrat, said the idea is “a non-starter.”

“We have to oppose that vigorously,” he said in an interview. “Disaster aid should never be tied to the debt ceiling, which I think is a crazy approach.”

House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole of Oklahoma said he raised the prospect of attaching fire aid to the debt limit with Trump and other House leaders at Mar-a-Lago this weekend.

“The people that are able to vote for the appropriations bills probably would be more willing to be supportive of what you're going to need in terms of resources out there,” Cole said, referring to Democrats.

Johnson confirmed Monday that it’s being discussed as being part of the funding bill Congress must pass before March 14 to avoid a government shutdown. Johnson said he prefers to put “conditions” on disaster aid, further enraging Democrats.

Moskowitz warned of the dangers of creating a new precedent in conditioning such aid: “Congress is like high school: When one side breaks the norm, the other side will return the favor.”

House conservatives are raising their own doubts about the proposal.

“I’ve said we shouldn’t have to negotiate with Democrats,” Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris of Maryland said in an interview.

Harris wants Republicans to address the debt limit as part of a party-line budget reconciliation bill paired with deep spending cuts.