[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 8 (Wednesday, January 15, 2025)]
[House]
[Page H173]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            RECEIVING DISASTER AID SHOULD NOT BE CONDITIONAL

  (Mr. LEVIN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, some House Republicans are threatening to 
withhold disaster aid to California unless certain unknown conditions 
are met. There is even talk about attaching disaster aid to an increase 
in the debt ceiling.
  Mr. Speaker, this could be your State. Never in our Nation's history 
has the Federal Government placed such politically driven conditions on 
disaster aid to its own citizens. We can have good-faith debates about 
water policy and infrastructure deficiencies, and we should, but that 
is not what this is about.
  This is a bad-faith effort to use California as a punching bag. This 
is about the promotion of half-truths, conspiracy theories, and 
outright lies, not to mention it is a way out for House Republicans.
  They can't raise the debt ceiling on their own, so they want to tie 
that to disaster aid. It is unconscionable.
  Mr. Speaker, I say to my Republican friends that it is unacceptable 
and downright shameful to use the suffering of Californians in need, or 
anyone in need, to solve your internal political disputes. Please stop 
playing games. Let's get the disaster aid to the people who need it, 
and let's do it now.

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