Latest news with #DemocraticCalifornia
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump administration reverses USDA office closures in California
The Trump administration has reversed its decision to shutter eight California outposts of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, according to a letter from agency head Brooke Rollins. The about-face came at the urging of a group of Democratic California lawmakers led by Sen. Adam Schiff, who decried plans from the the unofficial Department of Government Efficiency to close USDA offices in Bakerserfield, Blythe, Los Angeles, Madera, Mt. Shasta, Oxnard, Salinas, Woodland and Yreka. "Closure of these offices would severely hamper USDA's ability to support farmers imperative to California's agricultural success," the lawmakers wrote in a May 14 letter addressed to Rollins and Stephen Ehikian, acting administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration. The original closure plans came amid sweeping layoffs and lease terminations at government agencies across the country led by Elon Musk's DOGE team — including nearly two dozen California offices related to science, agriculture and the environment. Musk has since stepped down. The Trump administration said the terminations would provide considerable cost savings for the American people. The USDA offices slated for closure included outposts of the Farm Services Agency, the Natural Resource Conservation Service, the Agricultural Marketing Service, and the U.S. Forest Service, which had a combined annual lease cost of $809,000, according to the DOGE database. Read more: Musk team targets nearly two dozen environmental offices for closure in California In their letter, the lawmakers said farmers rely on USDA field offices for loans, grants, technical assistance, and in-person meetings with USDA staff, and that "closing these vital centers will make it more difficult for farmers to access the essential resources farmers must be able to rely on." They noted California is the nation's largest agricultural state, and that its farms received nearly $59.4 billion in cash receipts for their output in 2023 alone. The closures would put additional burdens on farmers "already navigating an uncertain agricultural economy" due to funding freezes, tariffs and other challenges, according to the lawmakers, who also included Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara), Jim Costa (D-Fresno), Adam Gray (D-Merced), Jimmy Panetta (D-Carmel Valley Village), Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Los Anglees) and Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose). In her May 30 response, Rollins said she has directed the GSA to rescind the termination notices for eight of the nine offices, save for the one in Mt. Shasta. According to the DOGE database, that office was a 536-square-foot outpost of the U.S. Forest Service with an annual lease cost of $12,000. "USDA is still in discussions with GSA concerning the viability of continuing that lease or if the services provided out of that office can be performed in a more suitable location," Rollins wrote. She added that the agency "supports optimizing building capacity and consolidating underutilized offices to reduce inefficiencies, while continuing to prioritize frontline services for farmers, ranchers, and rural communities." Schiff cheered the decision. "I would like to thank Secretary Rollins for engaging with us to ensure that Californians have access to these crucial services," he said in a statement. "I will keep pushing the administration to ensure that critical USDA offices in California continue to operate without interruption." This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Trump administration reverses USDA office closures in California
The Trump administration has reversed its decision to shutter eight California outposts of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, according to a letter from agency head Brooke Rollins. The about-face came at the urging of a group of Democratic California lawmakers led by Sen. Adam Schiff, who decried plans from the the unofficial Department of Government Efficiency to close USDA offices in Bakerserfield, Blythe, Los Angeles, Madera, Mt. Shasta, Oxnard, Salinas, Woodland and Yreka. 'Closure of these offices would severely hamper USDA's ability to support farmers imperative to California's agricultural success,' the lawmakers wrote in a May 14 letter addressed to Rollins and Stephen Ehikian, acting administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration. The original closure plans came amid sweeping layoffs and lease terminations at government agencies across the country led by Elon Musk's DOGE team — including nearly two dozen California offices related to science, agriculture and the environment. Musk has since stepped down. The Trump administration said the terminations would provide considerable cost savings for the American people. The USDA offices slated for closure included outposts of the Farm Services Agency, the Natural Resource Conservation Service, the Agricultural Marketing Service, and the U.S. Forest Service, which had a combined annual lease cost of $809,000, according to the DOGE database. In their letter, the lawmakers said farmers rely on USDA field offices for loans, grants, technical assistance, and in-person meetings with USDA staff, and that 'closing these vital centers will make it more difficult for farmers to access the essential resources farmers must be able to rely on.' They noted California is the nation's largest agricultural state, and that its farms received nearly $59.4 billion in cash receipts for their output in 2023 alone. The closures would put additional burdens on farmers 'already navigating an uncertain agricultural economy' due to funding freezes, tariffs and other challenges, according to the lawmakers, who also included Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara), Jim Costa (D-Fresno), Adam Gray (D-Merced), Jimmy Panetta (D-Carmel Valley Village), Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Los Anglees) and Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose). In her May 30 response, Rollins said she has directed the GSA to rescind the termination notices for eight of the nine offices, save for the one in Mt. Shasta. According to the DOGE database, that office was a 536-square-foot outpost of the U.S. Forest Service with an annual lease cost of $12,000. 'USDA is still in discussions with GSA concerning the viability of continuing that lease or if the services provided out of that office can be performed in a more suitable location,' Rollins wrote. She added that the agency 'supports optimizing building capacity and consolidating underutilized offices to reduce inefficiencies, while continuing to prioritize frontline services for farmers, ranchers, and rural communities.' Schiff cheered the decision. 'I would like to thank Secretary Rollins for engaging with us to ensure that Californians have access to these crucial services,' he said in a statement. 'I will keep pushing the administration to ensure that critical USDA offices in California continue to operate without interruption.'
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Newsom says trans athletes playing in women's sports is ‘deeply unfair' in split with Democrats
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom said transgender athletes playing in women's sports is 'an issue of fairness' in a break from most Democrats' position on the topic. 'Well, I think it's an issue of fairness. I completely agree with you on that. It is an issue of fairness. It's deeply unfair,' Newsom said in a podcast episode with conservative activist Charlie Kirk. 'I revere sports, and so the issue of fairness is completely legit. And I saw that the last couple of years. Boy did I saw how [Republicans] were able to weaponize that issue at another level,' he said. Newsom addressed both sides of the issue, saying, 'You know that these poor people are more likely to commit suicide, have anxiety and depression, and the way that people talk down to vulnerable communities is an issue that I have a hard time with as well. So both things I can hold in my hand.' Newsom's comments come after President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month banning transgender women from competing in women's sports, delivering on a political issue central to his 2024 campaign. Other Democrats have gotten pushback for comments similar to Newsom's. Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts has been vocal about transgender policies and told The New York Times in November that identity politics, particularly around transgender rights, hurt Democrats in the election, saying, 'I have two little girls. I don't want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete. But as a Democrat, I'm supposed to be afraid to say that.' Moulton got criticism from Democrats for his comments, and his campaign manager, Matt Chilliak, resigned in response to the remarks, according to The Boston Globe. Newsom has a long record of supporting LGBTQ rights. He ordered the city and county of San Francisco to start issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in 2004 after being elected mayor of San Francisco. The California governor's comments come as he eyes a potential 2028 presidential bid, having watched Republicans wield the issue against Democrats last cycle. Transgender policies were a major factor in the advertising wars of the 2024 presidential race, as Trump and his allies leaned into sharp attacks on former Vice President Kamala Harris' record, running waves of stark TV spots. 'Kamala's agenda is they/them, not you,' said one ad, referring to the pronouns used by some transgender and non-binary individuals. Newsom called the ad 'devastating' to her campaign during the podcast. He went further, saying, 'She didn't even react to it, which was even more devastating.' In total, Republican advertisers spent more than $60 million on ads that referenced transgender policies and LGBTQ rights during the 2024 presidential campaign, some of which included specific references to athletics participation, according to data from the ad tracking firm AdImpact. The debate spilled into some key Congressional races as well, as Republican candidates echoed the messaging from pro-Trump advertisers. An ad from Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz, who was challenged unsuccessfully by Democratic Rep. Colin Allred last year, featured several girls playing school sports as a large, dark shadow looms over them. A narrator says, 'Colin Allred could have stopped men from competing in women's sports, but instead he voted against our daughters. What kind of man does that?' In response to the criticism, Allred became the first Democrat that year to take to the airwaves directly rebutting the attacks, saying in an ad of his own that 'I don't want boys playing girls sports or any of this ridiculous stuff that Ted Cruz is saying.'
CNN
06-03-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Newsom says trans athletes playing in women's sports is 'deeply unfair' in split with Democrats
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom said transgender athletes playing in women's sports is 'an issue of fairness' in a break from most Democrats' position on the topic. 'Well, I think it's an issue of fairness. I completely agree with you on that. It is an issue of fairness. It's deeply unfair,' Newsom said in a podcast episode with conservative activist Charlie Kirk. 'I revere sports, and so the issue of fairness is completely legit. And I saw that the last couple of years. Boy did I saw how [Republicans] were able to weaponize that issue at another level,' he said. Newsom addressed both sides of the issue, saying, 'You know that these poor people are more likely to commit suicide, have anxiety and depression, and the way that people talk down to vulnerable communities is an issue that I have a hard time with as well. So both things I can hold in my hand.' Newsom's comments come after President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month banning transgender women from competing in women's sports, delivering on a political issue central to his 2024 campaign. Other Democrats have gotten pushback for comments similar to Newsom's. Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts has been vocal about transgender policies and told The New York Times in November that identity politics, particularly around transgender rights, hurt Democrats in the election, saying, 'I have two little girls. I don't want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete. But as a Democrat, I'm supposed to be afraid to say that.' Moulton got criticism from Democrats for his comments, and his campaign manager, Matt Chilliak, resigned in response to the remarks, according to The Boston Globe. Newsom has a long record of supporting LGBTQ rights. He ordered the city and county of San Francisco to start issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in 2004 after being elected mayor of San Francisco. The California governor's comments come as he eyes a potential 2028 presidential bid, having watched Republicans wield the issue against Democrats last cycle. Transgender policies were a major factor in the advertising wars of the 2024 presidential race, as Trump and his allies leaned into sharp attacks on former Vice President Kamala Harris' record, running waves of stark TV spots. 'Kamala's agenda is they/them, not you,' said one ad, referring to the pronouns used by some transgender and non-binary individuals. Newsom called the ad 'devastating' to her campaign during the podcast. He went further, saying, 'She didn't even react to it, which was even more devastating.' In total, Republican advertisers spent more than $60 million on ads that referenced transgender policies and LGBTQ rights during the 2024 presidential campaign, some of which included specific references to athletics participation, according to data from the ad tracking firm AdImpact. The debate spilled into some key Congressional races as well, as Republican candidates echoed the messaging from pro-Trump advertisers. An ad from Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz, who was challenged unsuccessfully by Democratic Rep. Colin Allred last year, featured several girls playing school sports as a large, dark shadow looms over them. A narrator says, 'Colin Allred could have stopped men from competing in women's sports, but instead he voted against our daughters. What kind of man does that?' In response to the criticism, Allred became the first Democrat that year to take to the airwaves directly rebutting the attacks, saying in an ad of his own that 'I don't want boys playing girls sports or any of this ridiculous stuff that Ted Cruz is saying.'
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump's ordered water ‘solution' to fight California‘s fires comes up dry, officials charge
A Trump administration executive order framed as a way to help Southern California fight future wildfires won't get more water in the hands of local firefighters, and will mostly simply divert water to farms, according to experts and advocates in the state. The order, dated Friday but made public Sunday, directs a variety of federal agencies to study 'Overriding Disastrous California Policies' to 'ensure adequate water resources in Southern California.' That potentially includes overriding existing rules governing the Central Valley Project, a federal irrigation network in the state, and the State Water Project, a separate state-run project, and even possibly convening a committee known as the 'God Squad' to exempt these changes from the federal Endangered Species Act. Experts on California's byzantine water infrastructure said the Trump order has little to do with improving the response to future wildfires like those that have torn through the Los Angeles area in recent weeks. 'The premise of this executive order is false,' a spokesperson for California governor Gavin Newsom told Cal Matters. 'Attempts to connect water management in Northern California to local wildfire fighting in Los Angeles have zero factual basis. California continues to pump as much water as it did under the [previous] Trump administration's policies, and water operations to move water south through the Delta have absolutely nothing to do with the local fire response in Los Angeles.' Even though fire hydrants ran dry and a local aquifer sat empty as LA firefighters fought blazes like the Palisades Fire, experts say that insufficient infrastructure is to blame, rather than a lack of local water supply. Even as the area suffered a months-long dry spell, thanks to a series of wet winters, state reservoirs were mostly above historical averages as the fires broke out. Problems occurred came as LA's municipal-scale water system, designed to fight smaller, individual house fires, was suddenly tasked with putting out a historically huge wildfire-scale blaze descending on the city. Moreover, the Central Valley Project doesn't even connect to the LA water system, let alone would be accessible to firefighters. Seventy-five percent of the system's water goes straight to agriculture, and the project ends in Bakersfield, before it reaches the Los Angeles area further south. 'Do not be fooled by Trump's lies: none of the policies in this executive order will move even a single drop of extra water to communities devastated by these wildfires. This administration is presenting us with a false choice,' Democratic California Rep. Jared Huffman, who serves on the House Natural Resources Committee, said in a statement. Some praised the Trump order, including the Westlands Water District, which serves agricultural communities in Fresno and Kings Counties. 'We appreciate President Trump's readiness to address these issues head-on and look forward to collaborating with federal and state partners to bring common sense back to the Food Basket of the United States,' Allison Febbo, general manager of Westlands, wrote in a statement. Others saw the move as a sop to agricultural communities in the state, which tend to lean more red than urban areas, and draw an enormous amount of water. 'This is a manufactured crisis and water grab for the agricultural sector, who are mainly growing crops for export,' Regina Chichizola of the advocacy group Save California Salmon told The Los Angeles Times. The executive order also calls for a reversion to a Trump-era set of rules from 2020 governing the Central Valley Project, which draws water from rivers flowing into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and San Francisco Bay and sends them further south to farms and communities in the San Joaquin Valley. California and environmental agencies later successfully challenged the rules in court, arguing they didn't protect endangered fish species that rely on Delta water, and the Biden administration worked with the state on new rules which rolled out in December. Organizations may sue Trump again if his agencies override federal endangered species protections. During a weekend visit to survey wildfire damage, Trump promised to back the state '100 percent,' though the Republican has also floated putting unrelated political conditions on future wildfire aid to California and abolishing FEMA, leaving states to grapple with their own disaster response. Speaking at a forum with state officials in Los Angeles, Trump inaccurately described the state's water system. 'You're talking about unlimited water coming down from the Pacific Northwest, even coming up from parts of Canada, and it pours down naturally. It has for a million years,' Trump said. 'You'll never run out, you'll never have shortages and you won't have things like this, and when you do you'll have a lot of water to put it out.' In fact, California water comes largely from melting snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains in the eastern part of the state, and does not come from Canada or the Pacific Northwest.
