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Ron Johnson: “The federal government is bankrupt.”

Featuring: Ron Johnson, Republican | U.S. Senate, Wisconsin

JUST IN: Ron Johnson Leads Senate Homeland Security Committee Hearing On The Palisades Fire

Published January 28, 2026 | Video Starts at 45:14

You're not relying on the federal government. You can't. It's something completely outside your control. The federal government's data point, not right now. We're almost $39 trillion in debt. The federal government is bankrupt. Most of these funds are provided by local and state, as is the hierarchy of emergency management. It starts with local and state. FEMA does finance after these disasters occur. (45:14–45:16)

CLAIM

Asserts that the federal government is bankrupt.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Ron Johnson

“Prior to 1800, on average, California had 4.5 million acres of land burned annually.”
JUST IN: Ron Johnson Leads Senate Homeland Security Committee Hearing On The Palisades Fire | Uploaded January 28, 2026 | 00:29-00:39
“By the end of the 20th century, prior to the year 2000, by proper land management, they had reduced that to, on average, about 250,000…”
JUST IN: Ron Johnson Leads Senate Homeland Security Committee Hearing On The Palisades Fire | Uploaded January 28, 2026 | 00:41-00:52
“In 2020, California saw 4.3 million acres burn again.”
JUST IN: Ron Johnson Leads Senate Homeland Security Committee Hearing On The Palisades Fire | Uploaded January 28, 2026 | 01:00-01:05
“California is requesting $33 billion of after action support because of the utter incompetence and failure of Los Angeles and California…”
JUST IN: Ron Johnson Leads Senate Homeland Security Committee Hearing On The Palisades Fire | Uploaded January 28, 2026 | 43:56-44:09
“We're almost $39 trillion in debt.”
JUST IN: Ron Johnson Leads Senate Homeland Security Committee Hearing On The Palisades Fire | Uploaded January 28, 2026 | 45:11-45:14
“California spent close to $14 billion on a high-speed rail system which will probably never be completed.”
JUST IN: Ron Johnson Leads Senate Homeland Security Committee Hearing On The Palisades Fire | Uploaded January 28, 2026 | 1:01:13-1:01:21
“Between the years 2019, 2023, average, 1.5 million acres didn't have to happen.”
JUST IN: Ron Johnson Leads Senate Homeland Security Committee Hearing On The Palisades Fire | Uploaded January 28, 2026 | 01:05-01:13
“We've gotten, according to staff, 234,000 pages of documents.”
JUST IN: Ron Johnson Leads Senate Homeland Security Committee Hearing On The Palisades Fire | Uploaded January 28, 2026 | 02:51-02:57
“We're going to be asked to probably spend billions that never should have been required to be spent had the state and local officials done…”
JUST IN: Ron Johnson Leads Senate Homeland Security Committee Hearing On The Palisades Fire | Uploaded January 28, 2026 | 29:40-29:51
“California prior to the 1800s, on average, burning about 4.5 million acres had reduced that 250,000 acres by the year 2000. Now it's back up…”
JUST IN: Ron Johnson Leads Senate Homeland Security Committee Hearing On The Palisades Fire | Uploaded January 28, 2026 | 29:54-30:10
“In Palisades, there were two reservoirs. They were both empty.”
JUST IN: Ron Johnson Leads Senate Homeland Security Committee Hearing On The Palisades Fire | Uploaded January 28, 2026 | 31:40-31:44
“They had another reservoir that could have been available that also was empty.”
JUST IN: Ron Johnson Leads Senate Homeland Security Committee Hearing On The Palisades Fire | Uploaded January 28, 2026 | 32:01-32:05
“To my knowledge, it's been named, obviously.”
JUST IN: Ron Johnson Leads Senate Homeland Security Committee Hearing On The Palisades Fire | Uploaded January 28, 2026 | 33:43-33:45
“After action reports were doctored.”
JUST IN: Ron Johnson Leads Senate Homeland Security Committee Hearing On The Palisades Fire | Uploaded January 28, 2026 | 35:21-35:24
“Information that wasn't particularly flattering for political leaders was pulled out [from reports].”
JUST IN: Ron Johnson Leads Senate Homeland Security Committee Hearing On The Palisades Fire | Uploaded January 28, 2026 | 35:25-35:33
“If you don't have an honest after action report, the failures will continue and there will be more disasters.”
JUST IN: Ron Johnson Leads Senate Homeland Security Committee Hearing On The Palisades Fire | Uploaded January 28, 2026 | 36:08-36:15
“Most local fire departments and local police departments are funded by local resources and state resources, mostly local.”
JUST IN: Ron Johnson Leads Senate Homeland Security Committee Hearing On The Palisades Fire | Uploaded January 28, 2026 | 44:51-45:00
“The federal government really comes in [after disasters] and does provide funding after the fact.”
JUST IN: Ron Johnson Leads Senate Homeland Security Committee Hearing On The Palisades Fire | Uploaded January 28, 2026 | 45:25-45:29
“The American taxpayer is going to be, you know, I'm supposed to join in a request for $33 billion because California leadership utterly…”
JUST IN: Ron Johnson Leads Senate Homeland Security Committee Hearing On The Palisades Fire | Uploaded January 28, 2026 | 45:35-45:44
“You should be doing [a full mop up of the incident].”
JUST IN: Ron Johnson Leads Senate Homeland Security Committee Hearing On The Palisades Fire | Uploaded January 28, 2026 | 55:10-55:11
“That's correct.”
JUST IN: Ron Johnson Leads Senate Homeland Security Committee Hearing On The Palisades Fire | Uploaded January 28, 2026 | 55:15-55:17
“They spend billions on illegal immigrants offering themselves as a sanctuary state, sanctuary city.”
JUST IN: Ron Johnson Leads Senate Homeland Security Committee Hearing On The Palisades Fire | Uploaded January 28, 2026 | 1:01:20-1:01:27
“We were told the trucks were all down the beach.”
JUST IN: Ron Johnson Leads Senate Homeland Security Committee Hearing On The Palisades Fire | Uploaded January 28, 2026 | 1:02:26-1:02:29
“Had they had fire trucks pre-positioned and water available, so much of the destruction could have been prevented.”
JUST IN: Ron Johnson Leads Senate Homeland Security Committee Hearing On The Palisades Fire | Uploaded January 28, 2026 | 1:02:36-1:02:48
“You can't cure incompetence with money unless you remove the incompetence.”
JUST IN: Ron Johnson Leads Senate Homeland Security Committee Hearing On The Palisades Fire | Uploaded January 28, 2026 | 1:32:00-1:32:05
“This investigation is to expose what happened, name names, identify the incompetence so it doesn't happen again.”
JUST IN: Ron Johnson Leads Senate Homeland Security Committee Hearing On The Palisades Fire | Uploaded January 28, 2026 | 1:32:16-1:32:28
“It's not being undertaken by California and Los Angeles officials. It's simply not. It's a whitewash.”
JUST IN: Ron Johnson Leads Senate Homeland Security Committee Hearing On The Palisades Fire | Uploaded January 28, 2026 | 1:33:02-1:33:09
“We need to get to the bottom of this so we can prevent this disaster, this preventable disaster from happening again.”
JUST IN: Ron Johnson Leads Senate Homeland Security Committee Hearing On The Palisades Fire | Uploaded January 28, 2026 | 1:33:16-1:33:24