Jan. 9, 2025, 7:57 p.m.
As the City of Angels continues to burn—in what is already estimated to be the costliest fire disaster in U.S. history—lawmakers on Capitol Hill, just days into the new Congress, are keeping the door open for a disaster aid supplemental in the next few months.
The fires in Los Angeles have claimed at least five lives so far and leveled entire neighborhoods, destroying thousands of homes, businesses, and historic landmarks. Firefighters anticipate more days of high winds and dry conditions, which would exacerbate the problem.
But that’s not the only potential hurdle for what’s shaping up to be a massive recovery effort. A lack of insurance coverage and an ongoing feud between President-elect Trump, who will be inaugurated Jan. 20, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom threatens to complicate the size of the aid from Washington and the speed of the federal response.
The fires are already the most destructive in L.A. history, and two of them—Palisades and Eaton—were still uncontained as of publication Thursday night.
In December, lawmakers replenished the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster Relief Fund as part of a $100 billion aid supplemental that included $29 billion for FEMA in the continuing resolution that funds the government until March.
That March 14 deadline is what many lawmakers and staffers are eyeing as to when the next supplemental would most likely move.
Sources familiar with the situation told National Journal the Disaster Relief Fund currently has funding from the last CR and FEMA has yet to indicate when it will need additional resources. The agency told CNN it has $27 billion remaining in the Disaster Relief Fund, which had been depleted last year by a series of disasters.
But while FEMA has funding now to help address the crisis, it is apparent as the smoke clears that Congress could be asked in the coming weeks for additional funding to help the thousands who find themselves homeless and aid the long-term recovery process. The economic losses could exceed $50 billion, per an estimate from JPMorgan published on Thursday.
Republican Sen. Mike Rounds, a member of the Appropriations Committee, told National Journal, “It's an open question. We have not had a report about what would be subject to FEMA needs. I'm sure there will be some.
“As to what the value would be and when the bill would come due, [that] would be a different question,” Rounds added. “And since we're already working in the appropriations process right now, there may be an opportunity to figure that in.”
But there are several hurdles for lawmakers to clear on a disaster supplemental—a topic members sparred over in the last Congress—including whether an aid package would move as a stand-alone bill, or as part of a larger government-funding measure.
House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole said, “We’d have to wait on a request from the administration.”
“The big challenge on these things is to always make sure—two things—first, that you've had time to actually do the estimates so you don't leave something out, and second, to make sure that people don't try and attach too much extra stuff to it, which, of course, they did in the lead-up to the December 20 bill that finally passed.”
And Trump provides an added wrinkle to the equation, given his turbulent relationship with Newsom, and the fact that he will be overseeing the federal response when he takes office in just days.
Trump has directly blamed Newsom—with whom he’s feuded with for years—for the disaster, even going as far to say that the governor should resign. On Thursday, he posted, “Fire is spreading rapidly for 3 days — ZERO CONTAINMENT. Nobody has ever seen such failed numbers before!”
President Biden approved a major disaster declaration from Newsom on Wednesday, which releases extra federal funds from FEMA, as well as grants for temporary housing and businesses. And the administration is surging federal assistance to the city with the funds approved by Congress in December in the disaster aid package.
In a September press conference, Trump threatened to withhold disaster aid to California as long as Newsom was governor: “We won’t give him money to put out all his fires. And if we don’t give him the money to put out his fires, he’s got problems.”
Cole said, “The reality is, you've got to wait till the disaster is over. It's clearly not yet, and you've got to give them time to do the estimate. So this will be something [the] Trump administration will have a lot to say about a little bit down the road.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters on Wednesday morning, “We will evaluate requests that are made from the governor of California, as well as likely from the current administration. And we're prepared to act quickly and stay in Washington as long as necessary in order to get that emergency relief out to the families who are in harm's way in California.”
An additional area of concern for lawmakers planning the federal government’s response to the disaster are reports of thousands in Los Angeles and its surrounding neighborhoods having been dropped from their insurance just weeks before the flames ignited.
Rep. Young Kim, whose district lies just outside of Los Angeles, said, “I'm hearing from my constituents about the inability to have more coverage, and it's going to affect more homebuyers because, especially in condos and townhomes, the [homeowners' association] is not covering those anymore.”
“While those are state-specific issues, I'm trying to look for the national solutions to bring this issue to make sure the homeowners have more coverage because those specific policies of homeowners—many of them don't have fire coverage because it's so expensive,” the California Republican said.
Casey Wooten contributed to this article.
