Rep. Garamendi Warns Trump: 'Don't Screw With California!'
*By Justin Chermol*
Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) warned President Trump not to mess with emergency funding for California on Friday after the commander-in-chief threatened to cut off disaster-relief in the fire-ravaged state.
In a tweet on Wednesday, Trump suggested that California itself was to blame for the wildfires that killed 86 people and destroyed thousands of homes last year, and said he was considering pulling its FEMA funds.
"Billions of dollars are sent to the State of California for Forest fires that, with proper Forest Management, would never happen," [the president wrote](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1083022011574747137?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1083022011574747137&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatoday.com%2Fstory%2Fnews%2Fpolitics%2F2019%2F01%2F09%2Fdonald-trump-fema-california-wildfires%2F2523581002%2F). "Unless they get their act together, which is unlikely, I have ordered FEMA to send no more money. It is a disgraceful situation in lives & money!"
Rep. Garamendi responded to the threat on Friday, saying, "Mr. President, California is the most important economy in this nation,"
Garamendi told Cheddar Friday. "Don't screw with California. Do not harm people that have lost their home."
"It is wrong, it is immoral. Don't do it," he said.
The tweeted threat comes just as Trump's administration is considering diverting billions in unspent disaster relief funds to build the border wall that is at the heart of a political dispute that has shuttered the government. Trump is reportedly [looking to end the shutdown](https://www.apnews.com/c9539cdeaa394fc2a00277f876ff3e43) by signing an emergency declaration to order the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build the wall without congressional approval.
In California, that funding is earmarked to maintain levies to avert flooding and maintain reservoirs to prevent them from failing, Garamendi said.
"People are in danger," he said. "People need to recover from the disasters of a year and a half ago. So the president's going to take that money to build a border wall? No. He does not ー should not have the power to do that. We should be introducing legislation to make sure that he cannot do that."
The government shutdown will become the longest in U.S. history on Saturday. Nearly 800,000 federal employees hoping to pay their mortgage, rent, or bills received no paycheck on Friday as they are either working unpaid or on furlough.
"They should be madder than hell at President," Garamendi said.
President Trump and ranking members of his administration continue to tell Americans that both a humanitarian and national security crisis abound at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Garamendi says otherwise: "There's no crisis on the border."
And the proposed state of emergency an abuse of power, he said.
"We do not have, or should not have, an imperial president. But he would establish himself, crown himself literally, as though he was Caesar."
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/dont-screw-with-california-congressman-garamendi-slams-trump-in-latest-standoff).
Carlo and Baker cover the heartening news on the Covid front ahead of the holiday, plus President Biden punting student loan repayments again, a new space telescope and Love, Hate, Ate: Christmas Eve Eve Edition!
This year's worldwide semiconductor shortage limited the supply of everything from new cars to smartphones; and now, many in the chip industry expect the shortage to continue deep into 2022, and maybe even 2023. Semiconductor senior research analyst for Robert W. Baird & Co., Tristan Gerra, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
The airline industry says it is contending with staff shortages that threaten to hamper operations amid the COVID resurgence, andDelta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian called on the CDC to revise its guidance for vaccinated workers who test positive from a 10-day quarantine to just five. Chuck Liberman, chief investment officer and managing partner at Advisors Capital Management LLC, joined Cheddar to talk about the current guidance on isolation and why he believes the omicron variant calls for more relaxed guidance given its reportedly mild symptoms.
Schools are shutting down in droves as the highly contagious omicron variant surges across the country. Denisha Merriweather, director of public relations and content marketing at the American Federation for Children, an advocacy organization for vouchers and tax credits for school choice, joined Cheddar's "Opening Bell" to discuss the impact of remote learning on children. She argued that school districts have to be more proactive about the steps they are taking to engage students, and if they are unable to form better teaching methods, parents should be able to find alternative schools.
The boys discuss President Biden's plans to send out free rapid tests as the testing supply chain starts to buckle ahead of the holidays. Also, why aren't Americans having more babies, and The Matrix returns.
With the Build Back Better plan essentially out of the picture, economists are highlighting what the country might lose without the provisions designed to strengthen it. Among other things, this includes no more monthly payments for tens of millions of families, no universal Pre-K for 6 million children a year, and no billions of dollars in tax incentives for climate initiatives. Grace Segers, staff writer for The New Republic, joined Cheddar to discuss the various impacts on the economy without President Biden's spending bill.
Electric vehicle companies took a tumble Monday after Senator Joe Manchin killed Biden's 'Build Back Better' plan. Shares of Tesla, Lucid, and Rivian all fell rapidly as the plan had included significant incentives for the growing EV sector. Rich Steinberg, former executive at Nissan, BMW and Electrify America joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
Michael Robinson, Chief Technology Strategist at Money Map Press, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he explains why small and mid-cap stocks heating up during Tuesday's session is a very good sign for a stock market that ended the day's session sharply higher.
