A blank check to states and local governments
Mitch McConnell to states (that aren’t Kentucky): you’re on your own.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday he would rather let state governments declare bankruptcy during the coronavirus pandemic than receive more federal funding. He suggested Republicans should oppose additional aid for state and local governments in future coronavirus relief bills.
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McConnell alleged that local governments would use federal funds to simply bail out pensions, which he pinned as the source of most of their financial trouble. He also said Congress would not “just send a blank check down to states and local governments to spend any way they choose to.”
“We all have governors, regardless of party, who would love to have free money,” the Kentucky Republican said. He said lawmakers were “going to push the pause button here, because I think this whole business of additional assistance for state and local governments needs to be thoroughly evaluated.”
So Andrew Cuomo points out an inconvenient fact.
New York state puts 116 billion dollars more into the “federal pot” than it takes out. Kentucky? Mitch McConnell’s state Kentucky? It takes out 148 billion more than it puts in.
How about Mitch McConnell declares intellectual and moral bankruptcy.
And of course, blame it on pensions. People paid into their pension funds, and took less salary so they could have something when they retired. So McConnell thinks the states shouldn’t honor that obligation? This is earned money…money paid for work already done. Sounds very Donald Trump. Just don’t pay the workers, right?