States plead for more virus aid
Governors are pleading for more help from Washington ahead of what is shaping up to be a bleak winter.
With more shutdowns looming and a vaccine months away from wide distribution, governors across the country are pleading for more help from Washington ahead of what is shaping up to be a bleak winter.
Renewed restrictions on indoor businesses, overloaded hospitals and the coming end of unemployment benefits for millions of Americans have led governors to paint a dire picture of the months ahead unless the federal government steps in with more money and leadership to help them shore up their damaged budgets and beat back the resurgence of the coronavirus.
Between now and June 2022, state and local governments could be facing a shortfall or $400 billion or moreby some estimates.
On a conference call Tuesday of Democratic governors from the Midwest, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers called for a sequel to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act adopted by Congress in March.
“There are workers and families and farmers and small businesses that are going to need our help, and frankly, we can’t do it alone,” he said.
“We’re going to need a robust federal support system to help our states and economies recover beyond the federal CARES funds that expire at the end of the year,” Evers said.
Casey Katims, federal liaison for Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, said the situation there is too dire for the state to wait until PresidentJoe Biden is sworn in Jan. 20.
“We need help by the end of this year,” Katims said.
The cost of distributing tens of millions of doses of a vaccine in 2021 is also emerging as a major concern for governors.
State health authorities have called on Congress to provide $8.4 billion.
Anewinfusion of federal money does not appear to be on the way anytime soon.
A lame-duck session of Congress and a presidential administration on its way out have chilled the prospects for a deal.
Congressional Democrats and Republicans say a new stimulus bill is needed, but they disagree on the scope of it.
Some Republicans are opposed to another round of checks directly to most taxpayers, and some don’t want Washington to “bail out” state and local governments that had financial struggles before the pandemic.
On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Democrats’ approach includes “huge sums of money for state and city governments with no linkage to demonstrated COVID needs” and comes as tax revenues in some states are ahead of where they were at this time in 2019.
“But Democrats still want coronavirus relief for the entire country held hostage over a massive slush fund for their own use, “the Kentucky Republican said.
The virus is blamed for almost a quarter-million deaths and over 11 million confirmed infections in the U.S.
Last spring, Congress and President Donald Trump agreed to a series of measures worth nearly $3 trillion to deal with the outbreak.