Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is backing placing conditions on disaster assistance for California in the wake of the destructive wildfires blazing around the Los Angeles area, a position that is already drawing opposition from Democrats.

In remarks to reporters at the Capitol on Monday, Johnson criticized California’s water resource and forest management, placing the blame at the hands of leaders on the state and local level.

“I think we’ve got to have a serious conversation about that,” Johnson said when asked about conditions on the aid. “Obviously there has been water resource mismanagement, forest management mistakes, all sorts of problems. And it does come down to leadership and it appears to us that state and local leaders were derelict in their duty in many respects. So that’s something that has to be........

© The Hill