CHICAGO — As talk in Washington has swiftly moved to the next coronavirus relief package, President Donald Trump on Monday questioned whether federal taxpayers should provide money of “poorly run” states and cities run by Democrats.
“Why should the people and taxpayers of America be bailing out poorly run states (like Illinois, as example) and cities, in all cases Democrat run and managed, when most of the other states are not looking for bailout help?” Trump asked on Twitter.
“I am open to discussing anything, but just asking,” the president added.
Trump’s question was a reversal from late last week when, after the federal Paycheck Protection Program received a new injection of funds, he indicated support for addressing state and local government revenue shortfalls due to the pandemic as part of the next round of relief.
Trump’s social media post was the latest twist in an ongoing debate over federal aid to state and local governments. Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., suggested that states facing huge public employee pension debts be offered the opportunity to file for bankruptcy, which they are now prohibited from doing.
McConnell said Senate Republicans supported a “pause” in considering federal relief aid to states and cities, which drew criticism from Democrats as well as some Republicans.
Controversy over federal help to states was magnified when Illinois Senate President Don Harmon of Oak Park earlier this month asked the state’s congressional delegation for more than $41.6 billion in federal aid, including $10 billion for the state’s vastly underfunded public employee pension system.
The state’s five GOP congressman rejected the request as an attempt to use federal money to paper over decades of mismanagement, including the pensions which have a $138 billion unfunded liability.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who most recently was the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in the Trump administration, touched on the issue on Twitter last week.
“A 5th aid package should not bail out states that have recklessly spent and taxed their way into oblivion. Illinois lawmakers are seeking tens of billions in taxpayer funds to deal with the state’s looming pension debt — that has nothing at all to do with the COVID-19 pandemic,” Haley tweeted.
Asked about Haley’s comment, Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Sunday tossed it back to Republicans.
“I want to know if members of the Republican Party in Illinois agree with her that Illinois doesn’t deserve to get any federal help. That’s what I want to know,” he said.
That prompted the state GOP to tweet that Illinois “should get the same proportional funding as others. IL pays more than its fair share. But IL Dems should not use the covid-19 crisis as an excuse to receive a multi-billion dollar pension bailout along the lines of Sen. Harmon’s shameless request.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised Sunday that the next coronavirus relief package will provide “significant” money for state and local governments, akin to the more than $600 billion that has gone to small business.
Criticized by some Democrats for not including local assistance funds in the latest package, Pelosi urged them to “just calm down” in an interview on CNN. “The governors are impatient,” Pelosi added.
Trump’s Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, told Fox News on Sunday that the administration will “consider” local aid in the next package but “we’ll only do it with bipartisan support.”
Democratic U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Schaumburg said he thought it was imperative to help state and local governments and to avoid laying off first responders dealing with the coronavirus.
“If you don’t take care of, or help those municipalities and state governments that are really suffering, they’re going to add to the woes of the economy by laying off hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of firefighters, police officers and other public servants and that only furthers the hole in which we’re in,” Krishnamoorthi said Sunday on WGN AM-720.
“I hope that my Republican counterparts really basically step up and talk about the need for this. It should not be a partisan issue at this point,” he said.
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