Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senators Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) issued the following statement after President Trump toured the devastation of the fires in Southern California:
“We’re grateful to President Trump for coming to California amidst the ongoing response to these historic fires. It’s difficult to comprehend the scale of the devastation — entire neighborhoods gone — until you see it firsthand. While his continued comments threatening conditions on federal aid and to eliminate FEMA are deeply concerning, we remain hopeful this visit moves the President and Congress closer to focus on relief over partisanship.
“Let us be clear — leveraging disaster aid as a bargaining chip runs in stark contrast to how both Democrats and Republicans have responded to natural disasters for decades. Natural disasters don’t discriminate between blue states or red states. And Americans should be able to count on our support to recover and rebuild in the wake of these tragedies, no matter what state they call home. We will continue to work with our colleagues to ensure that’s the case in California.”
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