Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is not just a human bobblehead doll. Currently, he’s leading Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz in the hotly contested GOP punchable face list, so it’s only right that on Wednesday, the Republican senator came out of his turtle-faced mouth to suggest that those states that have been hit the hardest by the coronavirus seek bankruptcy protections rather than receive a federal bailout.
That’s right, it’s Lord of the Flies under this government, which has continuously thrown states under the bus during arguably the direst time in recent history.
According to the Washington Post, McConnell’s comments, made during an interview on Hugh Hewitt’s syndicated radio show on Wednesday, “renewed push from states for help from Washington to cover lost tax revenue that has been among the dire consequences of the ongoing pandemic.”
“This is really one of the dumb ideas of all time,” Democratic New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said during his daily coronavirus briefing in Albany. Cuomo warned that having multiple states declare bankruptcy at the same time would lead to “a collapse of this national economy.”
Republican Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, chairman of the bipartisan National Governors Association, which, the Post notes, “has asked McConnell for $500 billion to help states deal with lost revenue,” said that McConnell is totally going to regret making that dumbass comment.
“Mitch McConnell probably regrets saying that,” Hogan said. “If he doesn’t regret it yet, I think he will regret it. … The last thing we need in the middle of an economic crisis is to have states all filing bankruptcy all across America and not able to provide services to people who desperately need them.”
McConnell claimed during the interview that the states could use bankruptcy protections to restructure their finances.
“I would certainly be in favor of allowing states to use the bankruptcy route,” McConnell said. “It saves some cities. And there’s no good reason for it not to be available. My guess is their first choice would be for the federal government to borrow money from future generations to send it down to them now so they don’t have to do that. That’s not something I’m going to be in favor of.”
From the Post:
The House is expected to sign off Thursday on a $484 billion relief bill that replenishes a loan program for small businesses affected by the pandemic. It also provides additional funding for hospitals and coronavirus testing, two issues Democrats pressed during negotiations.
Republicans balked at adding aid to states and localities to the pending legislation, but President Trump signaled this week that he would be open to including such assistance in the next round of legislative relief.
Now the majority leader, who is a Republican—the party that was once considered “fiscally conservatives”—wants to be concerned about the amount of money the government is sending to states after it bailed out all kinds of businesses that didn’t need it.
McConnell noted during his Wednesday interview that he was looking for lawmakers “to push the pause button” before moving forward with “this whole business of additional assistance for state and local governments.”
“There’s not going to be any desire on the Republican side to bail out state pensions by borrowing money from future generations,” McConnell said, the Post reports. “So this is a much bigger conversation than we’ve had providing assistance for small business because the government shut them out, put them down, put them out of business, or assistance to hospitals which were overwhelmed by the COVID-19 disease.”
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) didn’t mince words in his tweet Wednesday in which he literally dared other Republicans to back Turtle Face.
“Republican Senators: Raise your hand if you think your state should go bankrupt,” he wrote.
Cuomo straight up said the move would be “irresponsible and reckless” and was annoyed with a document from McConnell’s office entitled “Stopping Blue State Bailouts”—a call to stop funding trouble states being run by Democrats.
“This is not the time or the place or the situation to start your divisive politics,” a visibly agitated Cuomo said, the Post reports. “It’s not red and blue. It’s red, white and blue.”
Cuomo also noted that McConnell’s shithole state of Kentucky receives more federal dollars for service than its citizens pay in taxes.
“It’s your state that is living on the money that we generate,” Cuomo said. “Your state is getting bailed out. Not my state.”