Rep. George Whitesides Votes Against Partisan Resolution that Strips Away Nearly $25 Million in Public Safety and Community Project Funding for CA-27

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Rep. George Whitesides issued the following statement after voting against a partisan resolution that strips nearly $25 million dollars away from crucial public safety and community projects in California’s 27th District: 

“I came to Congress to fight for my constituents, no matter who sits in the White House and which party controls the House and the Senate. I am incredibly disappointed that Republican Washington leadership walked away from the negotiating table and proposed a hyper-partisan resolution that strips nearly $25 million from public safety and community projects in our district.  

By taking away resources from the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, our highway infrastructure, and our community college workforce development, Congressional Republicans are turning their backs on working families and enabling the continued attacks on our veterans and seniors.

Furthermore, despite pledged support, the proposed resolution does not include a single dollar for wildfire disaster relief in L.A. County, which is critical for helping communities like ours recover.

This resolution also comes on the heels of the GOP budget framework which would gut hundreds of billions from Medicaid while raising the federal deficit by over $4 trillion dollars.

My vote today was a fight to restore these much-needed funds. We must return to the negotiating table, do our jobs, and complete the budget process so that our local law enforcement and community organizations get the funds they need and deserve. 

I will continue to put my constituents over partisan politics, and stand against attacks on my community and our most sacred programs like Medicaid and Social Security. Washington Republicans control the White House, the House, and the Senate. By choosing to walk away from bipartisan negotiations and craft a bill behind closed doors, they have put corrupt special interests first, and the American people second.”

The Republican resolution strips the following FY2025 funding – that the House already approved – away from CA-27:

• $3,500,000 for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for the Lancaster Sheriff's Station Mobile Command Post. This would allow the Lancaster Sheriff's station to procure a new state-of-the-art mobile command post and two support vehicles for the Lancaster Sheriff’s Station to utilize during significant incidents. The current MCP is dilapidated and unfit for operations and equipped with outdated tools and technology. The new MCP will allow for more targeted responses to significant incidents with two support vehicles that will double as patrol cars.
• $2,000,000 for the College of the Canyons’ Advanced Technology Center Permanent Facility for Manufacturing Workforce Training. This project would develop an Advanced Technology Center to train students in the emerging fields of advanced manufacturing/computerized machining, welding/material joining, robotic welding, integrated personal fabrication, integration with the Internet of Things (IoT), and construction technologies.
• $800,000 for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for the Palmdale Sheriff's Station Equipment Initiative. This initiative would procure essential protective equipment and other tools for the Palmdale Sheriff’s Station to keep deputies and the community they serve safe. Among the items that this funding would purchase include ballistic shields, plate carriers, ballistic helmets, medical kits, and tasers.
• $2,000,000 County Sanitation District No. 20 of Los Angeles County Palmdale Sanitary Sewer Improvement Project, which would rehabilitate several miles of aging sanitary sewers that are at risk of failure to prevent structural damage, sinkholes and sewage spills.
• $2,000,000 for the Santa Clarita Water Agency’s PFAS Water Treatment Project. This project would centralize the treatment of four groundwater wells impacted by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination. It would restore operations of two existing wells taken offline due to PFAS contamination and treat two additional wells near the impacted wells. These wells extract groundwater from the Alluvial Aquifer and were taken offline due to PFAS detected in the existing wells.
• $2,000,000 for the City of Santa Clarita’s Saugus High School Roadway Safety Improvements. The funding would improve traffic and pedestrian safety at Saugus High School by installing curb extensions in front of the school as well as upgrades to existing crosswalks with high-visibility crosswalk markings that will benefit students, faculty, and the neighboring communities adjacent to the school. 
• $5,000,000 for the City of Palmdale’s Rancho Vista Boulevard Grade Separation. This funding would allow Palmdale to acquire a railroad grade separation of Rancho Vista Boulevard at both Sierra Highway and the double-track at-grade crossing of the Southern California Regional Rail Authority (SCRRA) Metrolink and Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) tracks. 
• $1,762,500 for Los Angeles County Department of Public Works’ Sun Village Community Resilience Project to prevent the frequent road washouts in Sun Village, Littlerock, and Lake Los Angeles area.
• $2,000,000 for the R.M. Pyles Boys Camp, to help cover the cost of a prevention and education program for at-promise young males. The program would help develop life skills, self-confidence, leadership skills and positive life choices in participants. The program provides year-round mentorship and follow-up outreach and activities for young men from underserved communities that suffer disproportionately from inequities in economic opportunity, community violence, and youth incarceration.
• $400,000 for the Lost Angels Children's Project Inc. This program would employ and provide mentorship services to transitional age youth in the Antelope Valley from underserved communities who have had run-ins with the justice system. The program enrolls these young people in a paid vocational training program that provides transferable skills and a direct path to sustainable job placement in aerospace and manufacturing.
• $500,000 for Optimist Youth Home to support their Commercially Sexually Exploited Children Training and Services Initiative. This initiative would expand an Optimist Boys’ Home and Ranch program that supports victims of commercially sexually exploited children (CSEC) in the Antelope Valley. The expansion of the program would specifically help Optimist partner with local law enforcement and train them how to identify, prevent, and respond to CSEC and deliver services to victims.
• $624,000 for the City of Santa Clarita’s Hydrogen Fuel Cell Project. This project would assist the City of Santa Clarita in implementing Hydrogen Fuel Cell technology as a backup power solution for traffic signals in the city. With this new backup power system, traffic signals would be able to remain fully operational for 4.5 days in the event of a significant blackout event or natural disaster, reducing emergency response times and increasing public safety.
• $900,000 for Los Angeles County Public Works’ Lake Hughes Master Drainage Plan. This funding would help cover the cost of the LACDPW’s first phase in implementing a master drainage plan for the Lake Hughes Community, which has dealt with severe flooding the past few years. To mitigate this issue, LACDPW is planning to make much needed infrastructure improvements to reduce the risk of flooding.

Additionally, the proposed resolution includes the following harmful cuts to critical federal programs:

• Veterans’ Healthcare – Due to the success of the PACT Act, more veterans are enrolled in VA care than ever. While the bill includes some mandatory funds to address the fiscal year 2025 shortfall, this bill fails to fund the necessary $22.8 billion in fiscal year 2026, breaking from the existing precedent of approving funding in advance to ensure that veterans’ medical care is not subject to partisan politics. This will lead to future uncertainty in medical care for veterans.
• Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs for State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance Program – This bill removes $475 million from previous funding levels for the largest grantmaking component of the Department of Justice and the Department’s criminal and juvenile justice-related science, statistics, and programmatic agencies. OJP provides federal leadership, funding, training and technical assistance, research and statistics, and other critical resources to advance work that strengthens community safety, promotes civil rights, increases access to justice, supports crime victims and individuals impacted by the justice system, and builds trust between law enforcement and communities.
• Cost of Housing – This bill cuts rent subsidies for low-income and working Americans by more than $700 million, leaving landlords to foot the bill for or evict more than 32,000 households including veterans, survivors of domestic violence, seniors, and families with disabilities, including providing $168 million less than what is needed to maintain homeless services across 400 communities nationally.
• Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) – The DRF, which is the primary source of federal funding for domestic disaster relief programs, covering costs like response, recovery, and infrastructure repair, will not be able to get through the remainder of the fiscal year and will need an influx of funding to address disasters throughout this fiscal year. The fund is currently on pace to meet only the most dire immediate life and safety needs by late spring.
• The Emergency Food Program – Neglects to fully fund the Emergency Food Program (TEFAP) by $20 million at a time of rising food costs and would leave 25,000 seniors unable to participate in the Commodity Supplemental Food Program.
• Rural Development Broadband – Cuts support for the rural broadband Community Connect program by $30 million, undercutting key investments in Rural America.
• National Institutes of Health (NIH) – Cuts funding for NIH by $280 million due to reduced funding transferred from the 21st Century Cures Act. Congressional directives to support biomedical research priorities would disappear, including directives related to research on cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, ALS, heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease, mental health, maternal mortality, infectious diseases, genetic diseases, rare diseases, and countless other health conditions.
• Social Security Administration – Allows the federal government to fire thousands of employees at the Social Security Administration, which would result in closures of Social Security offices, increased wait times for the 1-800 number, and unacceptable backlogs for Social Security beneficiaries trying to access their earned benefits.
• Corps of Engineers’ Civil Works Projects – Cuts $1.4 billion (44 percent) from Corps Construction activities and all project funding levels will be at the discretion of the administration, including for over 1,000 projects throughout the country that would otherwise be directed by Congress. These projects keep commerce safely flowing on our waterways, manage flood risk, and restore ecosystems.
• Local Transportation Safety Projects – Cuts $2 billion in Congressionally directed projects designated to improve the safety of our airports, railways, roads, and ports across all 50 states and U.S. territories at a time when the Trump administration has unlawfully frozen more than $60 billion in grants to public and private partners who help protect the traveling public and lower the costs to transport our fuel, agriculture, and U.S. manufactured goods.
• USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture – Cuts $37 million from the National Institute for Food and Agriculture to support agricultural research across the country.
• USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service – Cuts $30 million from the Natural Resources Conservation Service for assistance to farmers to improve their lands and for conservation activities.
• Finally, Republicans added language in the rule that blocks the House from voting on any resolution to end President Trump’s tariffs under section 202 of the National Emergencies Act (NEA). In effect, by waiving Congress’ authority to override Trump tariffs under the NEA, the GOP is providing a rubber stamp for any and all tariffs, and removing Congressional oversight in the process. 

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