Washington, D.C. (February 6, 2025)—Today, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust, delivered opening remarks at the subcommittee hearing on California wildfires and regulations.
Below are Ranking Member Nadler’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, at today’s subcommittee hearing.
WATCH Ranking Member Nadler’s opening statement.
Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler
Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust
Hearing on “California Fires and the Consequences of Overregulation”
February 6, 2025
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I want to congratulate you on becoming Chair of this subcommittee. While I am sure that we will have many disagreements—beginning with today’s hearing—I do look forward to working with you and to finding areas of common ground.
Mr. Chairman, while tens of thousands of Californians are still reeling from the fires that forced them to evacuate and that destroyed their homes and their livelihoods, Republicans are exploiting this crisis with a hearing that does nothing more than provide a sad excuse to further their long-held goal of dismantling the regulations that keep us safe.
Rather than face the undeniable facts of climate change and the need for urgent, unfettered federal assistance to help Californians rebuild their lives, Republicans want to change the subject. But we should begin by remembering the tens of thousands of people whose lives have been upended by this disaster.
The devastation wrought by these fires is unimaginable, and the only question we should be asking now is how we can help the people of California recover.
And despite the heroism of first responders, and plentiful water access in all but one small reservoir closed for maintenance, the fires tragically destroyed acres upon acres of homes and communities.
Instead of responding to this tragedy with open hearts, Republicans—led by President Trump and his unelected co-president Elon Musk—have resorted to a flurry of baseless accusations and scurrilous misinformation seeking to blame California’s Democratic elected officials.
And when they claim to be helping the situation, they have actually done more harm than good. For example, President Trump has falsely argued that environmental protection policies left Southern California without sufficient water to fight the wildfires, despite clear evidence to the contrary.
Nevertheless, he ordered the release of over 2 billion gallons of water in the Central Valley, purportedly to support his unsubstantiated claims. The President claimed that the water was “heading to farmers throughout the state, and to Los Angeles.”
This critical agricultural resource, desperately needed by California’s farmers for the spring, was instead—due to the President’s actions—diverted into the Pacific Ocean, a hundred miles away from Los Angeles.
California does not need political photo ops that waste desperately needed water, they need real federal assistance. And how does the President respond? By insisting that any federal aid come with strings attached that further his own political agenda, like voter ID laws. Never mind that California already has voter ID laws. But the President wants to play politics rather than help those in need.
That is outrageous.
And it is outrageous that Republicans in Congress, including Speaker Johnson, have indicated that they are open to placing conditions on disaster aid, especially ones that have nothing to do with wildfires. Not only is that wrong for California, but it is simply wrong to treat the citizens of any state as pawns in a political game.
Natural disasters tragically affect millions of Americans across the country each year. As FEMA’s website explains, its purpose is “to help people before, during, and after disasters.” To help people. All people. It is not there to help just the Republicans or just the Democrats, or to promote partisan objectives. It has always been, and should always remain, strictly neutral in its work.
Members should be careful before they consider attaching political strings to the federal funds needed to recover from natural disasters. If it can happen to California, it can happen to your state too.
In 2024 alone, the states my colleagues across the aisle represent collectively had 122 extreme weather events that necessitated FEMA assistance. 122 extreme weather events made worse, and made more frequent, by the realities of climate change that the Majority still will not acknowledge.
Imagine if then-President Biden had conditioned necessary FEMA disaster recovery funds on strings that bear no relation to the disasters their constituents are still recovering from? They would have been outraged—justifiably. But today, they remain silent.
And today, instead of letting California recover from the blazes that were contained only five days ago, and to take stock of how to rebuild, the Majority is leveraging the pain and suffering of Americans to push a message of deregulation over all else.
Instead of supporting our fellow Americans as they pick up the pieces, instead of ensuring that our neighbors have the resources they need to recover from this disaster, instead of working to slow the devastating effects of climate change that affect us all, Republicans will return to their tired old playbook and blame everything on overregulation.
Today, we are fortunate to be joined by Frank Frievalt, a retired fire chief with actual experience on the ground fighting fires and saving lives. I am looking forward to hearing from a true expert on how we can best help California in its hour of need. I yield back.
