Thursday, January 8, 2026

Congresswoman Chu Renews Push for Eaton Fire Disaster Aid

One year after the Eaton Fire “forever changed the communities of Altadena and Pasadena,” Rep. Judy Chu honored victims and renewed her push for federal disaster assistance to help local survivors recover, according to a press release from her office.

Chu spoke on the House floor to honor the victims and demand federal disaster assistance.

She also partnered with Rep. Brad Sherman, Sen. Adam Schiff and Sen. Alex Padilla to introduce a resolution honoring all the lives lost in the Eaton and Palisades fires, commending the heroic actions of first responders and underscoring Congress’ commitment to helping Southern California communities rebuild.

The resolution is cosponsored by all 41 additional House Democrats from California.

While the release notes that “tremendous progress has been made in our community’s recovery,” it says federal disaster assistance is still needed to support long-term recovery. Families, it said, “have already waited a year while rebuilding costs rise, housing shortages deepen, and displacement assistance expires.”

Chu’s statement said that President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans “have a duty to help communities devastated by natural disaster, whether that be California, Texas, or North Carolina.”

Chu said she is working with bipartisan members of Congress from California to urge Trump to “immediately and fully deliver” Gov. Gavin Newsom’s $33.9 billion supplemental request, according to the release. She joined Padilla, Schiff, Rep. Ken Calvert, Rep. Zoe Lofgren and the entire bipartisan California delegation in a letter to the president supporting assistance for “our recovery.”

The release adds that Chu co-led a letter with Rep. George Whitesides to Trump demanding that he work with Congress to deliver a disaster supplemental for California. To reinforce the need for this assistance and to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the LA fires and the lives they took, Chu also hosted a news conference with members of the California delegation “to underscore the dire need for President Trump to act with urgency and provide disaster aid to California as he promised to do so directly one year ago.”

“Every day that President Trump and congressional Republicans refuse to take up Governor Newsom’s disaster supplemental request, survivors will continue to suffer,” the release said. Chu introduced H.R. 6842, the Disaster Survivors Tax Relief and Recovery Act, “to codify the tax provisions of Governor Newsom’s request to address critical gaps in the federal tax code that are impeding recovery for survivors of the Eaton Fire and other major disasters.”

According to the release, the Disaster Survivors Tax Relief and Recovery Act would:

• Remove penalties for survivors who withdrew up to $100,000 from their retirement plans and double the amount survivors can withdraw from their employer plans (401K, etc.) without being penalized from $50,000 to $100,000
• Provide an infusion of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) to spur rebuilding in impacted communities
• Providing survivors a more generous refundable Child Tax Credit and/or Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) by allowing them to use their 2024 income if it is lower than their 2025 income.
• Increases charitable deduction limitations for qualified disaster relief donations and contributions.
• Allow survivors to claim disaster-related losses without the standard income limitations

The bill is cosponsored by Reps. Pete Aguilar, Nanette Diaz Barragán, Julia Brownley, Salud O. Carbajal, Jim Costa, Mark DeSaulnier, Laura Friedman, John Garamendi, Robert Garcia, Sara Jacobs, Sydney Kamlager-Dove, Mike Levin, Sam T. Liccardo, Ted Lieu, Zoe Lofgren, Doris O. Matsui, Dave Min, Kevin Mullin, Jimmy Panetta, Nancy Pelosi, Scott H. Peters, Luz M. Rivas, Raul Ruiz, Linda T. Sánchez, Brad Sherman, Eric Swalwell, Mark Takano, Mike Thompson, Derek Tran and George Whitesides, all from California.