With the clock ticking before President-elect Trump is sworn in, Gov. Gavin Newsom is heading to Washington this week to push for the Biden administration to safeguard some marquee California programs on the environment and disaster funding that are likely to be threatened after the Trump takeover.
The move is the latest in the governor’s highly visible effort to shield California from the second edition of the Trump presidency, which has elicited predictable fury from the Republican standard-bearer.
Last week, Newsom convened a special session of the Legislature to increase funding for litigation against the Trump administration. Trump countered by deploying his favored nickname for the governor and blasted “Newscum” for attempting to “Trump-proof” the state and “stopping all of the GREAT things that can be done to ‘Make California Great Again.’”
Newsom is set to fly out Monday morning and, once at the Capitol, meet this week with members of California’s congressional delegation and key officials in the Biden-Harris administration.
At the top of his agenda: pushing the Environmental Protection Agency to give the green light on waivers so that the state’s more stringent vehicle emissions standards can take effect.
Eight clean-air rules are awaiting approval from the EPA, including a rule governing small off-road engines that would ban the sale of gas-powered yard equipment including leaf blowers, lawn mowers and other equipment, and a rule to eventually sunset diesel engines in trains and guarantee trains are zero-emission by 2058.
The American Lung Assn. found that, if approved, the eight clean air rules would prevent 11,000 premature deaths over three decades and yield more than $100 billion in health benefits.
Biden has until Jan. 19 to sign off. Although some fear that a Republican-controlled Congress could attempt to stymie approvals issued in the final weeks of the Biden administration, a Newsom spokesman has previously told The Times that approvals of a California waiver were not subject to the Congressional Review Act, citing a decision by the U.S. Government Accountability Office last year.
In Washington, Newsom will also be pushing the Biden administration to sign off on efforts by California to use Medicaid funding to test new or expanded programs for those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness and have significant behavioral needs.
The governor also will be advocating for disaster-related funding, including for wildfires.
Trump has long promised to withhold disaster funding if a state’s leaders don’t align with his policies. During a recent campaign stop in Coachella, Trump threatened to turn the spigot off on firefighting money if Newsom didn’t make more water available to farmers.
“We’re going to take care of your water situation, force it down his throat, and we’ll say: Gavin, if you don’t do it, we’re not giving any of that fire money that we send you all the time for all the fire, forest fires that you have,” Trump said at the Coachella rally.
Times staff writers Tony Briscoe and Alex Wigglesworth contributed to this report.
