Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., argued on Sunday that President-elect Joe Biden’s coronavirus relief plan, which calls for a $350 billion “bailout” for state and local governments, “makes no sense.”
“We shouldn’t have Florida taxpayers bailing out New York” and other blue states for their prior problems, he stressed.
Scott made the comments on “Fox & Friends Weekend” three days after Biden unveiled a $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus proposal that’s designed to jump-start the nation’s sputtering economy and accelerate vaccine distribution to control the deadly pandemic.
Biden wants to provide state, local and territorial governments with $350 billion in emergency funding to help them keep front-line workers employed and aid with vaccine distribution, COVID-19 testing, reopening schools and “maintaining other vital services.”
Funding for state and local governments emerged as one of the most contentious issues during nearly a half-year of relief negotiations between Democrats and Republicans, who decried the proposal as a “blue-state bailout.” Unable to compromise on the issue, lawmakers eventually decided to exclude state and local government aid from the $900 billion relief deal they passed in December.
Scott called the funding to state and local governments, specifically New York, “liberal payback.”
He made the comments after Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N. Y., reportedly said the state could get as much as $2 billion more in FEMA emergency money for the coronavirus pandemic through Biden’s massive relief plan.
Under Biden’s plan, $30 billion will be invested into FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund and part of that will cover the cost of a 100% federal reimbursement for COVID-19 emergency responses by state and loc… (Read more)
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