Mitch McConnell is happy to let all the states go bankrupt if it means he can punish a few blue ones along the way. Meanwhile, his own state of Kentucky is begging for some relief.
Having pushed his $310 billion package through the Senate for additional small business loans, Mitch is done for the day. When asked about other issues that require funding, he responded that regarding the “national debt…we need to be as cautious as we can be.”
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McConnell outlined what his “fiscal responsibility” might look like.
“I would certainly be in favor of allowing states to use the bankruptcy route,” he told conservative radio jock Hugh Hewitt. Specifically, Mitch “would not be in favor of” helping blue states financially.
"We’re not ready to just send a blank check down to states and local governments to spend anyway they choose to," @senatemajldr Mitch McConnell told @hughhewitt.https://t.co/AAXiHjw8eu
— Ben Tobin (@TobinBen) April 22, 2020
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On average, blue states are already less dependent on federal funding. Furthermore, the states McConnell and Hewitt picked on, California, Illinois, and Connecticut, are among the fifteen states that take the LEAST money from the federal government. (They were also among the first nine to issue stay at home orders.)
And where does McConnell’s home state of Kentucky rank? Number FIVE. That’s right, only four states receive more federal funding than Mitch’s. And that those aren’t even coronavirus-related funds.
McConnell’s home state is struggling even harder while contending with the pandemic. Louisville lawmakers are currently turning to their federal representatives looking for “general fund relief” so that they don’t have to “cut the services” people depend on. Apparently, he’s willing to sacrifice is own constituents if it means he gets to stick it to the Democrats.
Cuomo: Let’s talk about fairness, Mitch
NYS puts $116 billion more into the federal pot than we take out.
Kentucky TAKES $148 billion more from the federal pot than they put in.
But we don’t deserve help now because the 15,000 people who died here were predominately democrats?
— Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) April 23, 2020
Flickr/Gage Skidmore
Moscow Mitch says “We need to see how things are working, see what needs to be corrected.” Since small business loans are the only part of the CARES Act he seems willing to revisit, does he think that not-so-small businesses that walked away with CARES Act money is the way it should work?
Or perhaps McConnell thinks states could come out of bankruptcy like Donald Trump, a man who has enriched himself through five corporate bankruptcies. Trump stiffed his contractors; who does Mitch think will foot the bill if a state goes bankrupt?
Why didn't Mitch McConnell and the Republicans use all the time they saved not listening to witnesses to get ready for the coronavirus?#MitchMcConnell
— Middle Age Riot (@middleageriot) April 23, 2020
Screenshot/Washington Post
Fortunately, the House has to pass this bill too, so they have the chance to add in everything Moscow Mitch didn’t prioritize, like COVID-19 infection testing, personal protective equipment (PPE) for all essential workers, funding the Postal Service, legislating loan moratoriums—oh, and a fund for state and local governments.
There's no reason that the U.S. should be bailing out large corporations, while allowing states to go bankrupt. This means our first responders and our teachers may lose jobs or get pay cuts, just because #MitchMcConnell wants to pay back his wealthy donors with our tax dollars.
— Ms. Krassenstein (@HKrassenstein) April 23, 2020
Source: Pixabay
Meanwhile, McConnell plans to get back to the only work he thinks is important: pushing the nation’s courts toward a conservative bias.
ICYMI🎙️: I joined @hughhewitt to discuss Senate Republican's victory yesterday on more legislation to help American workers through the pandemic and the Senate’s continued focus on confirming impressive new judges. https://t.co/hmQsATvFJJ
— Leader McConnell (@senatemajldr) April 22, 2020
