Republicans plan to present another $1 trillion coronavirus relief bill this week, but the price tag isn't high enough for Democrats. Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi want money for state and local governments to deal with the health crisis as well.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) asked why states like Florida should bail out states like New York.
“Congress has spent more than $3 trillion of taxpayer money to keep employees on payrolls and help the workers who lost their jobs during this pandemic," Scott said in a statement on Friday. "The federal government should continue to reimburse states and local governments for expenses related to coronavirus response, which is already outlined in law. But it’s irresponsible and reckless that Schumer wants to take money from American taxpayers and use it to save liberal politicians like Governor Cuomo from the consequences of their poor budget choices. Floridians shouldn’t have to backfill New York’s state budget and pension fund, and I won’t let it happen.”
In his daily coronavirus press conferences, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo demanded Washington send funds to help him face the crisis. He suggested that he had a right to it, considering that New York puts the most money into the "federal pot" than any other state.
Scott said that last month he asked New York how it had spent its CARES Act funding. He's "still waiting on a reply."
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who has helped negotiate the earlier relief bills, shared the administration's goals for the new legislation from the Oval Office on Monday. Both he and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell emphasized that the money should not be a disincentive for people to go to work.
"We're going to make sure that we don't pay people more money to stay at home and go to work, we want to make sure that people who can go to work safely can do so we'll have tax credits that incentivize businesses to bring people back to work," Mnuchin said.
The secretary said that the next trillion dollars will focus on kids, jobs and vaccines.