Senators Schiff, Padilla Refuse to Travel to California With Trump

California’s Senators Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Alex Padilla (D-CA) refused offers from President Donald Trump to travel with him to Los Angeles Friday and visit areas decimated by wildfires. They said their reason is that Senate confirmation voting of Trump’s cabinet picks took priority.

Earlier this month prior to his inauguration, Trump was criticized for proposing adding conditions to federal wildfire relief funds. However, leading up to his inauguration, Trump said he would visit fire-stricken areas of California by the end of his first week in office.

In his inaugural address on Monday, President Trump talked about the fires, calling them a tragedy and promising change.

“Our country can no longer deliver basic services in times of emergency, as recently shown by the wonderful people of North Carolina been treated so badly and other states who are still suffering from a hurricane that took place many months ago, or more recently, Los Angeles, where we are watching fires still tragically burn from weeks ago without even a token of defense,” said Trump on Monday. “They’re raging through the houses and communities, even affecting some of the wealthiest and most powerful individuals in our country, some of whom are sitting here right now. They don’t have a home any longer. But we can’t let this happen. Everyone is unable to do anything about it. That’s going to change.”

Shortly afterwards, President Trump announced his plans to visit North Carolina, California, and Nevada on Friday as his first out of state travel following his inauguration. As the date approached, questions over if there would be conditions for wildfire relief grew. In particular, Trump began hinting more and more that there would be conditions over water allocation in the state, an issue that he and Governor Gavin Newsom have been at odds over since he first became Governor in 2018. While Newsom’s administration has blocked him from altering California’s water allocation in the past, in particular stopping Trump from shifting water from environmental usage to agricultural, rural and urban usage, things changed this week.

On Tuesday, Trump signed an Executive Order directing water resources in California away from environmental usage in favor of other needed areas including more water being made available to help fight the wildfires. This was followed up by an announcement from President Trump in North Carolina on Friday that there would be two major conditions placed on California in order to receive federal funds: New voter ID rules and the release of water from Northern California to the rest of the state.

Conditions for relief

“I want to see two things in Los Angeles,” Trump said on Friday. “Voter ID, so that the people have a chance to vote, and I want to see the water be released and come down into Los Angeles and throughout the state. Those are the two things. After that, I will be the greatest president that California has ever seen.”

It was amidst these issues, in addition to others including halting birthright citizenship and new ICE guidelines, that the Trump team contacted California lawmakers to visit and travel with while visiting California. Several refused to travel with Trump to Los Angeles, including both of California’s Senators. Both Schiff and Padilla denied any political reasons for not going, saying that the only reason they couldn’t go was because of the Senate confirmation voting of Trump appointees.

“A number of us invited him to come to the state and he reciprocated, inviting us to join him to go to these fire areas,” said Schiff on Friday. “Regrettably, Senator Padilla and I have votes today in the Senate, so we aren’t able to go. But I’m glad he’s going, and I’m glad that he’s going to see the devastation. Because I think, frankly, until you see it and the scope of it, whole neighborhoods gone block after block after block, it’s hard to wrap your head around.”

“Senator Padilla was invited,” added spokesman Edgar Rodriguez. “The Senator regrets not being able to join President Trump in Los Angeles due to the Senate vote schedule. He welcomes the President’s support for federal disaster aid to assist the thousands of families and businesses impacted by these devastating fires.”

While other lawmakers, including Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, are currently up in the air about meeting with Trump, there has been one surprise confirmed lawmaker meeting Trump: Governor Newsom. The two political rivals meeting in Los Angeles was been seen as unlikely, especially after Trump’s new conditions on wildfire relief were added on Friday. Newsom’s negative response to the conditions on Friday morning also led more to doubt Trump and Newsom meeting face to face for the first time since the inauguration.

“Conditioning aid for American citizens is wrong,” said Newsom’s office on X on Friday. “FACT: Under current CA law you must be a CA resident and US citizen (and attest to being one under penalty of perjury) AND provide a form of ID such as driver’s license or passport that has been approved by the Secretary of State in order to register to vote. FACT: 15 states do not generally require voter ID at polls, including Nevada and Pennsylvania (two states won by President Trump). FACT: California pumps as much water now as it could under prior Trump-era policies.”

Nonetheless, Newsom personally confirmed that he would not only be meeting Trump, but he would meet him on the tarmac at the airport as soon as he landed there later on Friday.

“I look forward to being there on the tarmac to thank the president, welcome him, and we’re making sure that all the resources he needs for a successful briefing are provided to him,” added Newsom on Friday.

While not as many lawmakers will be meeting with Trump as he was expecting, Trump’s meeting with Newsom will likely be seen as non-political for at least part of the visit.

“Newsom and Trump have never gotten along, and it goes way beyond the water issue,” explained LA County pollster Manny Rodriguez to the Globe on Friday. “But Newsom “Trump-proofing” the state, the wildfires, all of these executive orders, California’s legal response to many of them, and now these conditions for aid have made these two even bigger rivals than before. So many have been wanting a quiet, introspective moment or two between them as a sort of respite. And, hopefully, we’ll see that when they go around L.A. together.

“Newsom was on the ground on day one of the fires and has seen a lot of destruction. As for Trump, he as been shown to be deeply sympathetic during disasters. Plus, the fires affected many people he knew like donors. They will both be respectful when they view the destruction. The most we will see is Newsom maybe saying how they need the aid without conditions or Trump maybe saying something about how water is needed there. They won’t take the gloves off in front of burnt homes and people who lost everything.

“Both Schiff and Padilla lost out on an excellent opportunity. Bass and Harris will as well if they don’t go. Showing non-partisan sympathy for victims of a natural disaster is always a moment of humanity that the public generally approves of. Trump and Newsom will be back at it as soon as the plane lifts off, but a mutual agreeance on sympathy and help for people who lost everything is always important to see. Especially for a Governor with low approval ratings looking to be President in a few years and a President who is taking big strides his first week in office.