Trump threatens to defund `out of control’ California
Sacramento Bee February 5, 2017 5:17 PM
By Sean Cockerham
scockerham@mcclatchydc.com
WASHINGTON
President Donald Trump is threatening to withhold federal funds from “out of control” California if the state declares itself a sanctuary state.
“If we have to, we’ll defund,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News host Bill O’Reilly before the Super Bowl. “We give tremendous amounts of money to California, California in many ways is out of control, as you know.
Trump was responding to a question from O’Reilly about efforts by Democratic state legislators to make California a de-facto “sanctuary state” that would restrict state and local law enforcement, including school police and security departments, from using their resources to aid federal authorities in immigration enforcement.
“I think it’s ridiculous. Sanctuary cities, as you know, I’m very much opposed to sanctuary cities. They breed crime, there’s a lot of problems,” Trump said. Sacramento, Los Angeles and San Francisco are sanctuary cities and have said they will will challenge in court any attempt by Trump to withhold federal funds from them. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said he doubted the 10th amendment to the Constitution, which reserves power to the states, would allow Trump to defund.
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg has said he would “join, if not lead, any effort to fight (the sanctuary city threat) with litigation.”
Trump told O’Reilly that he didn’t want to defund a state or a city and would like to give them “the money they need to properly operate.”
But the president added that “if they’re going to have sanctuary cities, we may have to do that. Certainly that would be a weapon.”
Californa Gov. Jerry Brown pledged in his State of the State address last month to defend everybody who has come to the state “for a better life and has contributed to the well-being of our state.”
“I recognize that under the Constitution, federal law is supreme and that Washington determines immigration policy. But as a state we can and have had a role to play. California has enacted several protective measures for the undocumented: the Trust Act, lawful driver’s licenses, basic employment rights and non-discriminatory access to higher education,” Brown said in his State of the State. “We may be called upon to defend those laws and defend them we will.”
Sean Cockerham: 202-383-6016, @seancockerham
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Notes from The Doctor
1. “California in many ways is out of control, as you know.”
I didn’t know that. What’s the data? Oh, just proclamations from the Tyrant. Facts not required. Continue.
2. “I’m very much opposed to sanctuary cities. They breed crime, there’s a lot of problems,” Trump said.
Once again, where’s the data. Just more Tyrant BS.
3. “But the president added that “if they’re going to have sanctuary cities, we may have to do that. Certainly that would be a weapon.”
Ah, the term “weapon” has surfaced. How interesting.
4. “We may be called upon to defend those laws and defend them we will.”
In more ways than one. And so it begins.
Final Dr’s Note: The Tyrant’s malformed ego will not allow California to give him the middle finger salute. The situation will escalate.
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California Democrats counter Trump’s threat to defund
JONATHAN J. COOPER, Associated Press Feb. 6, 2017
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The war of words escalated Monday between Democratic leaders in the nation’s biggest state and Donald Trump after the Republican president said California is “out of control” and suggested withholding federal funding.
In separate statements Monday, the leaders of the state Legislature pointed to California’s massive economy and strong job growth, saying the state provides critical contributions to the nation.
“If this is what Donald Trump thinks is ‘out of control,’ I’d suggest other states should be more like us,” said Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Paramount.
Trump criticized California during a Fox News interview broadcast on Sunday.
“California in many ways is out of control as you know,” he told Fox anchor Bill O’Reilly. “Obviously the voters agree or otherwise they wouldn’t have voted for me.”
Responding to questions from O’Reilly, Trump said California’s consideration of legislation to create a statewide sanctuary for people living in the country illegally is “ridiculous.”
Trump, who opposes sanctuary cities that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, said the federal government “gives tremendous amounts of money to California.”
O’Reilly asked if defunding is Trump’s “weapon of choice,” and the president responded: “I don’t want to defund anybody. I want to give them the money they need to properly operate as a city or a state. If they’re going to have sanctuary cities, we may have to do that. Certainly that would be a weapon.”
California Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon said state residents contribute more to federal coffers than their state gets in return, and any sanctions against California would ripple nationwide.
“President Trump’s threat to weaponize federal funding is not only unconstitutional but emblematic of the cruelty he seeks to impose on our most vulnerable communities,” de Leon said.
Rendon, de Leon and other Democratic leaders in California have fiercely criticized Trump and vowed to fight his policies through the Legislature and in court. The Legislature has hired Eric Holder, the U.S. attorney general under President Barack Obama, to advise members on a legal strategy.
California’s nonpartisan legislative analyst reported last month that federal expenditures in the state amount to $368 billion a year, most of it to provide health care for people with low incomes.
Trump’s defunding suggestion wasn’t his first threat to use the power of the federal purse as leverage.
He also signed an executive order threatening to cut off some federal grants for sanctuary cities. Last week, in response to unrest on the campus of University of California, Berkeley, he sent a tweet saying: “If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view — NO FEDERAL FUNDS?”
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra also vowed Monday to challenge any move by the Trump administration to take away federal funding.
“We will … fight every way we can to make sure we get our fair share of money back,” Becerra said told reporters at the California Department of Justice crime lab in Fresno.
The attorney general’s office also joined several other states that filed briefs in support of the state of Washington, which is challenging Trump’s travel restrictions for refugees and people from seven Muslim-majority countries.
Becerra said the ban could hurt a large number of people who come to California for everything from attending medical school to driving technological developments in Silicon Valley.
On the California Assembly floor, several Democrats contrasted Trump’s approach to immigration and foreign policy and that of former President Ronald Reagan, a revered former California governor and a hero to many conservatives.
While discussing a resolution to recognize Reagan’s birthday, Assembly Democrats noted that he granted amnesty to some undocumented immigrants and urged the Soviet Union to tear down the Berlin Wall.
AP writers Sophia Bollag in Sacramento, California, and Scott Smith in Fresno, California, contributed to this report.