Rep. Chu to Join President for California Wildfire Briefing in Palisades

PASADENA, CA - Today, Rep. Judy Chu will join Reps. Ted Lieu (CA-36), Brad Sherman (CA-32), and George Whitesides (CA-27), along with Republican Members of Congress from California whose districts were unaffected by recent wildfires, for a fire recovery briefing with President Trump. Last week, Rep. Chu led local affected Members and Senatorsinformally inviting then-President-elect Trump to the damage sites of both the Palisades Fire and Eaton Fire.

Before attending the briefing, Rep. Chu released the following statement:

"I will work with anyone and everyone in local, state, and federal government to deliver desperately needed aid to the communities of Altadena and Pasadena in the aftermath of the devastating Eaton Fire. I'm grateful then to President Trump for responding to my colleagues' and my invitation to come to California to see the destruction for himself and collaborate with us to provide federal disaster aid. While the President will be in the Palisades area to see communities impacted there and hold a briefing with us, he does not plan to visit or assess the damage in northern Pasadena and Altadena, a vibrant Black community that has served as a hub of Black Los Angeles for generations. I will continue pushing him to make time to see our area and hear from the survivors and first responders there. No one can leave those conversations blaming the victims for the scope of devastation from the hurricane-force firestorms. Just as America has done with federal disaster assistance for our entire history, aid to Southern California should come with no strings attached. The people here have suffered too much; we should never play politics holding up relief people need to continue healing, recovering, healing, and rebuilding from natural disasters."