Cuomo calls for more coronavirus state aid as Congress works on new federal stimulus plan

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The Democratic governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, called for the federal government to provide additional funding to states to help combat the financial effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

Cuomo renewed calls for “unrestricted fiscal support for states” in the next federal relief package, as a proposal advanced in Congress.

“We need federal help, we need federal assistance,” Cuomo said during his daily press briefing Tuesday. “The bill has to fund state and local governments, it has to fund working families, it has to fund state testing and tracing.”

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In order to build the infrastructure for testing and tracing, Cuomo said the states need funding.

However, he drove home the point that the relief needs to be directed at the average American worker – and not handouts doled out to “greedy corporations.”

“This doesn’t have to be a giveaway to the rich millionaires who are doing just fine anyway. And it doesn’t have to be a giveaway to big business,” Cuomo said.

In fact, the governor introduced a bill Tuesday that would block big businesses from receiving government funds unless they rehire the same number of workers that were hired prior to the pandemic.

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Cuomo also said relief should be directed at states that have been most seriously impacted by the pandemic. New York state needs about $61 billion in federal support, he said, or it faces spending cuts of about 20 percent. That would affect institutions ranging from schools to local governments to hospitals.

Democratic lawmakers in the House of Representatives unveiled a relief proposal Tuesday, which is said to include $1 trillion for state, local and tribal governments.

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