Representative from northern Los Angeles County leads California delegation in demanding more federal aid
Santa Clarita Congressman George Whitesides is demanding more financial support from the federal government to support wildfire-affected communities in Southern California and to strengthen long-term wildfire resilience.
Speaking on the one -year anniversary of the Palisades and Eaton fires, the representative from the 27th District of California said, “The message that we are sharing here in Washington, D.C., is that the recovery is far from complete, and we need more federal assistance to help rebuild our communities, to rebuild our homes, and help those who are affected, rebuild their lives.”
Whitesides is leading 42 members of the California Democratic congressional delegation by sending a letter to President Donald Trump asking for supplemental disaster assistance of $33.9 billion as requested by the state last month. The congressman said that aid was promised to assist with rebuilding homes, schools, businesses, and critical infrastructure.
“When the president came to the Palisades after the fires, he promised that help would be on its way. I think it is absolutely unacceptable that we are still waiting for that help one year later,” said the representative from northern Los Angeles County. “California is the biggest donor state in the Union. We pay more than $80 billion more into the federal government than we get back and when other states have suffered floods and hurricanes and tornadoes, we have voted without hesitation to provide them the supplemental appropriations that they need to rebuild their communities, because it’s the right thing to do, and when Americans are in need of assistance, we always step up. But right now, the administration has failed to put forward a supplemental appropriation of about $30 billion.
“It has to happen. Our communities need it to rebuild. And so, we are making a big push, a bipartisan push right now, to make clear that this is still absolutely required for the rebuilding effort in Los Angeles.”
Whitesides is also touting his effort in Congress to boost wildfire resilience efforts.
“I’m really proud of a very important bill that we’re pushing now called ‘Fix Our Forests’ which is going to help us clear the high intensity potential dangers from the wild lands,” he said. “It’s a bipartisan bill that has already passed the House and is now heading, hopefully, for passage in the Senate, and when we pass that, we’re going be able to make a substantial difference in the safety of our communities. The other thing we really need to focus on is hardening our communities. People really need to make sure that they’re establishing a clean zone zero around their house that makes a huge difference. And we also need to make sure that we’re putting in place supports for insurance so that we can keep folks on their insurance so that their prices don’t rise so much, and so that we can keep people from having to go on to the Fair Plan, which is a huge issue in my district.”
On the one-year anniversary since the Los Angeles wildfires, the Democratic congressman also supports the “Healthy Lungs for Heroes Act.” The bipartisan bill would create the first-ever respiratory protection standards for wildland firefighters. Whitesides said he backs the legislation after speaking with first responders to the Palisades and Eaton fires.
“This is a bill that has already been introduced in the Senate by our Senator Adam Schiff and supported by Senator Alex Padilla. We’re really grateful for their leadership on this,” he said. “Here’s the problem: While on the job, firefighters have to fight in smoke for days and weeks on end and up until this point, they really have had no protection for their lungs. And it’s crazy, because we know that there are many carcinogens in wildland smoke. It potentially causes over a dozen different types of cancer. So, this is a starting step. It won’t solve everything, but it’s a step towards establishing standards for wildland firefighters so that we can provide them the protection that they need, so that when they’re protecting us, their lungs are protected as well.”
The bill is intended to direct agencies like the Forest Service and Interior Department to develop and mandate respirators and adequate gear when smoke exceeds OSHA/NIOSH limits, addressing long-term health risks associated with toxic wildfire smoke.