New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is still fuming over Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's suggestion that states declare bankruptcy if they want financial help, instead of expecting funds from Congress's coronavirus relief efforts. That, McConnell's office suggested, would amount to a "blue state bailout."
Cuomo used a host unflattering adjectives to describe McConnell's remarks, among them "ugly," and "ridiculous," with a tinge of "absurdity" and "meanness." It was, he added, "one of the dumb ideas of all time."
At his Friday press conference, Cuomo was still red hot. As he was explaining that New York will experience a $13.3 billion shortfall in its Executive Budget forecast, Cuomo took more shots at McConnell, this time adding a suggestion.
"Legally, states can't declare bankruptcy," Cuomo said. "You would need a federal law allowing states to declare bankruptcy. So to the Senate that proposed it, I say pass a law allowing states to declare bankruptcy. I dare you."
"Pass the law," Cuomo said directly to McConnell. "I dare you."
It'll be the first time in our nation's history that that happened," he noted. "I dare you to do that...If you have the courage of conviction, because you're a man of your word. Pass that bill if you weren't just playing politics."
Cuomo also reiterated his earlier point that New York puts tons of money into the federal pot every year, while McConnell's state of Kentucky is "the no. 3 in taking."
"You're not bailing New York out," he said. "New York has bailed you out every year! Mitch McConnell is a taker, not a giver."
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"Just give me my money back," he suggested.
McConnell has maintained that Congress should wait and see what kind of a toll their coronavirus-related stimulus packages have on the national debt, before considering helping state and local governments.
Cuomo is much more pleased when it comes to medical resources. He has consistently praised the Trump administration for "having the backs of New Yorkers." Trump signed off on the shipment of thousands of ventilators to New York, he brought in the Army Corps of Engineers to help turn the Javits Center into a makeshift hospital, and sent over the USNS Comfort.
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