Diehl demands Baker veto COVID relief bill
Says there’s not enough for UI fund
The sole major Republican candidate for governor in next year’s election is calling on Gov. Charlie Baker to veto a $4 billion coronavirus relief spending bill he says saddles billions of dollars of unemployment debt on the backs of businesses.
“There is a clear and present need to protect Massachusetts businesses — and through them, the workers they employ — from the imminent threat of higher taxes,” said Geoff Diehl, a former Whitman state representative. “For our state to allocate recently received federal funding without adequately protecting our state’s economy from potential disaster is irresponsible and must be corrected.”
Lawmakers agreed to funnel $500 million to help pay back what could amount to up to $7 billion in debt after the state’s unemployment insurance trust fund paid out a historic number of claims amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Business industry leaders have said a minimum contribution of $2 billion from the state is needed to relieve the burden on businesses that fund the UI account through a payroll tax.
Baker this summer filed legislation proposing a $1 billion investment in the UI Trust Fund but has yet to say where he stands on the bill that was finally sent to his desk following months of hearings and discussions on Friday.
“I’m glad it’s here,” the Republican governor said the day the bill hit his desk. “We’ll take a good look at it over the course of the next several days and make some decisions about how to move forward.”
Baker’s Press Secretary Terry MacCormack said “the Administration is currently reviewing the legislation on the Governor’s desk.”
Budget watchdogs have also condemned lawmakers efforts to load the bill with local “pet projects,” which they said are antithesis to the bill’s purpose of jumpstarting the coronavirus economic recovery.
Diehl said he is “not surprised that the Legislature went on a spending spree as soon as the state received money from the federal government.”
Baker has until next Monday to sign, veto or return the bill to the Legislature with amendments.