California is not 'out of control, ' out of control gay California loon leaders tell Trump

[toby]

California leaders pushed back on Monday against President
Donald Trump's claim that the state is "out of control,"
pointing to its balanced budget and high jobs numbers in the
latest dustup between the populist Republican and the
progressive state.

The state's top Democrats called Trump cruel and his proposals
unconstitutional after the businessman-turned-politician
threatened to withhold federal funding from the most populous
U.S. state if lawmakers passed a so-called sanctuary bill aimed
at protecting undocumented immigrants.

"President Trump's threat to weaponize federal funding is not
only unconstitutional but emblematic of the cruelty he seeks to
impose on our most vulnerable communities," state Senate Pro Tem
Kevin de Leon, a Democrat from Los Angeles, said in a statement
on Monday.

State Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, an L.A.-area Democrat,
said the state has the most manufacturing jobs in the nation,
and produces a quarter of the country's food.

“If this is what Donald Trump thinks is ‘out of control,’ I’d
suggest other states should be more like us," Rendon said.

The latest war of words between Trump and Democratic leaders in
California, where voters chose his opponent, Hillary Clinton,
two-to-one in November's election, began Sunday, in an interview
between Trump and Fox News host Bill O'Reilly.

During the interview, O'Reilly asked Trump about a bill in the
state legislature, authored by de Leon, to ban law enforcement
agencies in the state from cooperating with immigration
officials in most circumstances. Cities who have enacted similar
bans are known as sanctuary cities, and de Leon's bill, if
passed and signed into law by Democratic Governor Jerry Brown,
would effectively extend such rules to the entire state.

Trump disparaged the bill as ridiculous, saying that sanctuary
cities "breed crime."

"We'll have to, well, de-fund," Trump said. "We give tremendous
amounts of money to California."

Trump went on to say he viewed funding as a weapon.

"California in many ways is out of control," Trump said to
O'Reilly. "Obviously the voters agree or otherwise they wouldn't
have voted for me."

Last week, Trump threatened to withhold federal funding from the
University of California at Berkeley, where violent protests led
to the cancellation of a speech by an editor for the right-wing
Breitbart News.

But experts said it would be difficult for the President to
withhold funds from either the university or the state. Court
rulings have limited the power of the president to punish states
by withholding funds, and most appropriations come from the
Congress and not the executive branch.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-california-
idUSKBN15M01V?il=0