If you are unfamiliar with Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, she’s the no-nonsense politician who told her constituents during a pandemic that their jumpshot was always going to be weak and, therefore, they should stay their asses in the house and off the basketball courts.
I will not discuss the countless memes of her telling you something that you need to hear but don’t want to acknowledge. But, yes, I’ve seen them and they are funny. The larger point is that Lightfoot didn’t come to play with you and your little friends. Oh, and shut her front door and stop letting all her good heat out into this cold Chicago winter.
So it should shock no one that on Wednesday, Lightfoot blasted Senate Majority Leader Mitch “Chicken Neck” McConnell (R-Ky.) for his insistence on screwing cities and states out of any federal funding from the next stimulus package.
“I hope what Democrats in Congress will say is, ‘Over my dead body,’” the mayor said during a press briefing, Politico reports. “Every single town and municipality in this country is hurting. Blue, red, purple; independent mayors, Republican mayors, Democratic mayors.”
For some reason (that reason is racism), McConnell and other Republicans don’t want to give financial assistance to local governments who have been devastated during COVID-19.
As it stands, Democrats believe in state aid and Republicans believe in letting people die making sure that employers are covered from coronavirus-related lawsuits, because clearly that’s what’s needed now.
“I know that there’s a lot of posturing that goes on in Washington, D.C., but dear God, stop the nonsense,” Lightfoot said. “Get something done. We are hurting here in the heartland and all across our country and we need the federal government to step up and do their job.”
From Politico:
Chicago, like many cities across the country, has suffered huge losses due to Covid-19’s impact on tax revenue. The Chicago City Council last month approved a $12.8 billion budget for 2021 that includes a $94 million property tax hike, along with increases in fees and fines, to help shore up a $1.2 billion budget deficit. The city, the state of Illinois, and much of the Midwest, have seen an uptick in Covid-19 cases and deaths in recent weeks, triggering a new round of restrictions on restaurants and other businesses already struggling to stay afloat.
“To basically turn your back on state and local governments at a time when we are hemorrhaging and looking at severe service cuts, putting people out on the streets, and unemployment, cutting back on services that actually could be a stimulus to the economy — that’s unbelievably short-sighted,” Lightfoot said.