Wednesday, July 15, 2026

Barger, Bass Ask Congress for $15.7 Billion to Fund Eaton, Palisades Fire Recovery

Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass have sent a series of joint letters to Congress seeking continued federal funding for the long-term recovery from the Eaton and Palisades wildfires, according to a July 14 news release from Barger’s office.

The letters — addressed to congressional leadership, the Los Angeles County congressional delegation, and the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees — ask lawmakers to advance a supplemental disaster appropriation aligned with a combined city and county request of $15.7 billion to rebuild infrastructure and communities burned in the January 2025 fires that destroyed much of Altadena, an unincorporated community in Barger’s district, and forced evacuations in neighboring Pasadena. For Altadena and Pasadena, the request is the latest step in a monthslong effort to secure federal money that has not yet been approved.

In the letters, the two officials request support to help the county and the city rebuild critical public infrastructure, restore community facilities, strengthen local economies and assist residents as recovery continues. The release said the letters build on previous federal recovery efforts and seek funding for infrastructure restoration, public facilities, housing recovery and economic revitalization.

“Recovery from disasters of this magnitude is a long-term commitment that requires strong partnerships at every level of government,” Barger said in the release. She thanked Bass “for joining me in this unified advocacy effort” and said her focus “remains on ensuring our communities have the federal resources necessary to rebuild stronger.” Families, businesses and neighborhoods “have shown extraordinary resilience, but they cannot complete this recovery alone,” she said, adding that continued federal partnership “is essential to helping our communities rebuild and move forward.”

Bass joined Barger in signing the letters, underscoring what the release called a shared commitment to ensuring the region speaks with one voice. “From Los Angeles to Sacramento to Washington, Supervisor Barger and I have worked together to fight for the resources wildfire survivors need and deserve – and we won’t stop until every family has returned home and every business has reopened its doors,” Bass said in the release. “The scale of this recovery requires continued assistance from every level of government to rebuild our communities and the critical infrastructure that supports them, and that’s what we’re calling for today,” she said.

The letters note that President Donald Trump’s June request for $87.6 billion in supplemental funding did not reference disaster relief tied to the Eaton and Palisades fires, and they ask that the region’s needs be included in appropriations legislation “at its first writing.”

The Eaton Fire began the evening of Jan. 7, 2025, in Eaton Canyon and drove into Altadena; the Palisades Fire ignited the same day on the county’s west side. Both were contained on Jan. 31 after 24 days. Together the fires killed 31 people; the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection put the combined structures destroyed at more than 16,000, ranking the blazes among the most destructive in state history. A federal Major Disaster Declaration followed on Jan. 8, 2025.

The joint letters follow more than a year of state and local lobbying. Gov. Gavin Newsom asked Congress for nearly $40 billion in early 2025; Barger and Bass met Trump at the White House in April to press a roughly $16 billion request; and Rep. Judy Chu, whose district includes Altadena and Pasadena, has pushed repeatedly for the aid to be attached to a federal funding package.

As of the fires’ one-year mark, only a handful of destroyed homes had been rebuilt, most of them in Altadena, with hundreds more under construction.