The state of Colorado will appeal the Trump administration‘s decision not to provide disaster relief funds for wildfires and flooding that occurred earlier in the year, Gov. Jared Polis (D-CO) announced on Sunday.
Polis said the administration denied his disaster declaration requests Saturday night for the Elk and Lee fires, as well as for flooding in the western part of the state. Those wildfires began over the summer, with the Lee fire burning over 137,000 acres. Both were contained by September, while severe flooding hit parts of Colorado months later in October.
In a press release announcing the impending appeal, Polis accused President Donald Trump of engaging in “political games” through the denial of funds.
“Coloradans impacted by the Elk and Lee fires and the flooding in Southwestern Colorado deserve better than the political games President Trump is playing,” Polis said. “I call on the President’s better angels and urge him to reconsider these requests. This is about the Coloradans who need this support, and we won’t stop fighting for them to get what they deserve. Colorado will be appealing this decision.”
Sens. Michael Bennet (D-CO) and John Hickenlooper (D-CO) joined Polis in condemning the move, with Bennet calling it “malicious and obscene.”
“A disaster is a disaster, regardless of what state in the country it took place. Together with Governor Polis and the Colorado delegation, I will take every available step to appeal this decision,” Bennet said.
The White House rejected the Colorado Democrats’ characterization of the decision, with spokeswoman Abigail Jackson saying “there is “no politicization” to Trump’s decisions on disaster aid.
Jackson also said the Trump administration provided two aerial firefighting systems that were then loaded onto military aircraft to help contain the two wildfires.
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Trump, however, has frequently sparred with Colorado’s Democrat leadership, targeting Polis over everything from illegal immigration and crime to a portrait of the president in Colorado’s Capitol building.
Trump most recently attacked Polis over the imprisonment of Tina Peters, a former clerk in Colorado’s Mesa County who was convicted for attempting to overturn the 2020 election and who Trump has pardoned.
