Rick Scott Asks Sean Duffy: What Did California Do with Wildfire Money?

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) has written to Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy to ask for an accounting of how the State of California has spent federal funding his department allocated for wildfire prevention.

Scott noted that “California’s state and local governments appear to have mismanaged resources designed to support wildfire preparedness, suppression, and recovery.”

Scott, as Breitbart News has reported, is chairing an investigation with Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) into how California responded (or failed to respond) to the devastating Palisades Fire in January, which began on state land.

In a letter dated Sep. 26, Scott pointed out that California has received federal funds, in part through the Department of Transportation, for the prevention of wildfires, yet appeared to have squandered it.

He wrote:

It has been reported that California, in general, and Los Angeles, in particular, have received seemingly endless flows of federal funds from the DOT and other federal agencies for wildfire management, repression, and response. Yet these funds do not appear to have been used wisely. This has led many to conclude that California’s trouble with wildfire mitigation is not due to a lack of funding, but rather years of the state’s foot-dragging and red tape.

Natural disasters happen, regardless of state or political party. And we should all rally around those who experience calamity through no fault of their own. But those in government also have a duty to responsibly manage funds that have been allocated to prevent and respond to these disasters. That does not appear to have been the case in California.

Accordingly, I have been conducting oversight of the contributing causes of the Palisades fire and the adequacy of the response efforts. To advance that oversight, although I acknowledge your incredibly effective response to the Palisades fire, I am writing to request an update on the funding that has been allocated to California in the past ten years, starting on September 1, 2015. In particular, how much money has the DOT given to California for wildfire response, prevention, and recovery? How many DOT personnel have been employed or deployed to respond to wildland fires on California state property? Are there any federal or California laws, rules, or regulations that hinder the DOT’s ability to adequately respond to wildfires or recover from wildfires? Additionally, how much money did California receive from the DOT in response to the Palisades wildfires and other California wildfires that occurred in 2025?

Read the full letter here.

Scott asked Duffy to respond by October 17, though it was unclear if a government shutdown would affect the deadline. (Scott has also joined Johnson in a legislative effort to change budgeting to prevent shutdowns.)

Breitbart News has previously highlighted the problem of spending in California, and the need for federal oversight of all funding sent by the federal government to the state for the purposes of wildfire relief.

Scott also asked Duffy about reports that the presence of then-President Joe Biden in Los Angeles, and Air Force One, during the outbreak of the fire might have caused airborne resources to be grounded. Breitbart News has reported that Biden’s visit diverted scarce police resources away from west Los Angeles, meaning there was no one on the ground to direct the evacuation of the fire zones, save for the residents themselves.

Sen. Scott has previously said that he also expects California Gov. Gavin Newsom to cooperate with the probe.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Zionist Conspiracy Wants You, now available on Amazon. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.