Barger, Bass deliver unified front after White House meeting on wildfire recovery
Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger (R-Santa Clarita, Antelope Valley, San Gabriel Valley foothills) and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass released a joint statement yesterday after meeting with President Donald Trump and administration officials in the White House to advocate for wildfire recovery funding and insurance relief for LA County families.
In a notably unified message, the Republican supervisor and a Democratic mayor described the meeting as productive and expressed gratitude for the president’s engagement on recovery issues.
“This afternoon, we met with President Trump and Administration officials to advocate for families who lost everything,” Barger and Bass said in a joint statement. “We had a very positive discussion about FEMA and other rebuilding funds, as well as the support of the President to continue joining us in pressuring the insurance companies to pay what they owe — and for the big banks to step up to ease the financial pressure on LA families.”
The meeting comes as thousands of LA County residents continue navigating the long recovery from the January 2025 Eaton and Palisades fires. Insurance nonpayment and banking pressure on fire survivors have emerged as two of the most persistent obstacles to rebuilding.
“Our job is to fight for our communities,” the joint statement concluded. “When it comes to this recovery, our federal partners are essential, and we are grateful for the support of the President.”
Kamlager-Dove condemns Trump plan to send Afghan allies from Qatar to the Congo
U.S. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Ladera Heights, Culver City, View Park, and communities of the mid-city and South Los Angeles corridor), Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on South and Central Asia, joined Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) in issuing a statement yesterday condemning the Trump administration’s reported plan to relocate Afghan allies currently housed at Camp As Sayliyah in Qatar to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The DRC is currently experiencing an ongoing humanitarian crisis and armed conflict, making the proposed relocation a de facto choice between returning to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan or being sent to an active war zone, the lawmakers argued.
“President Trump should be ashamed of forcing our Afghan allies into an impossible choice: return to Afghanistan and face likely Taliban reprisals or be sent to the DRC, a country grappling with a severe humanitarian crisis and ongoing conflict,” Kamlager-Dove and Meeks said. “These individuals stood with the United States throughout a 20-year war, many serving alongside American troops in combat. In return, we made a promise to protect them after the Taliban’s takeover. Abandoning that commitment not only betrays our allies, it sends a dangerous message to future partners that U.S. promises cannot be trusted.”
The lawmakers called on Republicans who previously supported the Special Immigrant Visa program for Afghan allies to join Democrats in urging the administration to use national interest waiver authority to admit vetted Afghans and fulfill America’s commitments.
Valladares advances bills protecting child sexual assault survivors and trafficking victims
State Sen. Suzette Martinez Valladares (R-Santa Clarita, Saugus, Canyon Country, and communities of the northern Los Angeles County foothills) announced yesterday that two of her public safety bills passed the Senate Public Safety Committee unanimously and advanced to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The first bill, SB 1395 — known as Kayleigh’s Law — would allow judges to issue protective orders against perpetrators for up to 25 years in cases involving childhood victims of felony sexual assault. Current law limits protective orders to between four and seven years, meaning a child harmed at a young age can lose court protection before reaching adulthood and is forced to return to court and face their perpetrator simply to renew the order.
“There is no good reason young victims should have to keep coming back to court to prove they still deserve protection,” Valladares said. “This is a common-sense solution to limit re-victimization and support healing.”
The second bill, SB 1022 — the California Multidisciplinary Alliance to Stop Trafficking Act — would establish a statewide task force to evaluate and improve collaboration between government agencies and nonprofits serving human trafficking victims, identify best practices, close gaps in services, and report findings to the Governor, Attorney General, Legislature, and Office of Emergency Services.
“Human trafficking is an evil, complex, and evolving crime that demands a coordinated response,” Valladares said. “This bill ensures we have an all-hands-on-deck approach to better protect trafficking victims and hold traffickers accountable.”
Whitesides presses Pentagon on cybersecurity gap created by Anthropic supply chain designation
U.S. Rep. George Whitesides (D-Santa Clarita, Palmdale, Lancaster) joined U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) in sending a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth yesterday demanding answers on the national security implications of the Department of Defense’s designation of Anthropic — maker of the Claude AI system — as a supply chain risk.
The designation prevents DoD components and contractors from accessing Anthropic’s tools, including its newly released Mythos model, an advanced AI system capable of autonomously identifying previously unknown security vulnerabilities across every major operating system and web browser, including hidden flaws in Linux systems used by Pentagon infrastructure.
While Anthropic has limited Mythos’s broader release due to misuse concerns, it is actively working with other federal agencies and major defense-adjacent companies, including Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, and CrowdStrike.
“American companies are building the most powerful cybersecurity tools in the world, and we’re blocking our own military from using them,” Whitesides said. “We cannot afford to leave our defense systems vulnerable while our adversaries race to develop the same capabilities.”
The letter asks Hegseth to answer five specific questions, including whether DoD has assessed whether Mythos-identified vulnerabilities in Pentagon systems have been fully remediated, how the department is ensuring its acquisition processes aren’t ceding ground to adversaries, and whether DoD has conducted a formal assessment of the national security costs of its Anthropic designation.
