Congress may not work on a plan immediately for further disaster relief for the victims of California's wildfires, and Los Angeles should bear some of the cost for rebuilding, Rep. Andy Harris said Thursday on Newsmax.
"I don't think we're going to work on that right now because we just put more money into FEMA before we left for the Christmas holidays," the Maryland Republican said on "Wake Up America." "That was part of the big $110 billion bill that we passed."
Further, Harris said that Los Angeles should "bear some of the burden" for rebuilding areas that were claimed by the fire.
"Los Angeles handled or mishandled the fire department so egregiously that they ought to bear some of the burden for that rebuilding," the congressman said, echoing President-elect Donald Trump's criticism of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.
Trump has called on Newsom to resign and accused him and Bass of "gross incompetence."
President Joe Biden said Wednesday that he approved Newsom's request for a major disaster declaration and ordered federal assistance to supplement response efforts in areas affected by wildfires, while "ensuring impacted communities and survivors have immediate access to funds and resources to begin their recovery."
"We're prepared to do anything and everything, as long as it takes, to contain the Southern California fires and help reconstruct. But we know it'll be a hell of a long way," Biden said in a post on X. "The federal government is here to stay as long as you need us."
Harris also on Thursday spoke about the Laken Riley Act, saying it surprised him that 159 members of the House voted against it Wednesday.
"I hope they get challenged two years from now when they run for reelection," he said. "How in the world they could possibly have voted against the Laken Riley Act? Do they really believe that we need to have illegal alien criminals run rampant in our community? It's crazy."
The House is also making passage of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, a bill that requires anyone registering to vote in federal elections to provide proof of citizenship, as a priority.
"We want to deliver on President Trump's agenda and, obviously, controlling the border is one of those agenda items," said Harris. "A lot of Americans are worried about the influx of illegal immigrants and whether or not they're going to, in fact, get voting cards in some states, and that's what the SAVE Act would prevent."
Meanwhile, Harris said he believes a compromise will be reached in the debate over reconciliation and Trump's proposal to repeal the $10,000 cap on the state and local tax (SALT) deduction.
"We're talking about if we had eliminated the SALT tax cap, it would cost $1 trillion over ten years. That's too much," said Harris. "But I think we're going to come to a compromise with regards to the reconciliation bills. I still think that we should have a pathway to deliver a very rapid win for [Trump] on border and security, and I'm afraid that if it gets caught up in one big bill, this is going to drag on into the summer or later, and we shouldn't have that. We should deliver a victory for the president pretty quickly."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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