Republicans slam Biden's $1.9T COVID stimulus plan: It's a 'blue state bailout package'
Democrats say without the aid massive cuts to services are at hand
Republicans are pushing back against President Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus bill that aims to give state and local governments a “budget bailout” from financial mismanagement in Democratic -- or "blue" states.
Part of Biden’s “American Rescue Plan” will dedicate $350 billion to states in an effort to alleviate higher costs and lower tax revenues during the pandemic. Democrats have been urging this move for months now, warning that they will have to make cuts to education programs, safety and public health.
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However, some lawmakers are calling the bill a “bailout package” for Democrat-run states like Illinois, New York and California that have a long history of financial blunders and mismanagement, according to FOX Business’s Grady Trimble.
“That money didn’t pass in previous stimulus bills, and that’s because it’s controversial,” Trimble told Connell McShane his daily show, "After the Bell," seen on FOX Business.
This problem has been worsened by pandemic lockdowns, which have restricted businesses and crippled local economies.
The massive package comes as deaths from coronavirus continue to reach new records, while new rounds of lockdowns over the winter months heightened economic woes. Moreover, unemployment claims remain elevated with 900,000 Americans filing for unemployment benefits in the last full week of Trump’s presidency.
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Rep. Michael Waltz, R- Fla., criticized the state aid proposal as a way for those states to fill their budget deficits.
“They have to fill that hole” Waltz told the Fox News morning show, “Fox & Friends.” “States have to balance their budget, the federal government doesn’t. So AOC and now Joe Biden are going to the big piggy bank in the sky that prints nonstop money.”
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla, recently told “Fox & Friends Weekend” that Congress cannot be bailing out states for their prior problems, claiming that it “makes no sense.”
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