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Some people still haven’t received the $1,200 coronavirus stimulus check promised by the government, but for the ones that have, you might not be seeing another one anytime soon.
As if it wasn’t tone-deaf enough when Steven Mnuchin, United States secretary of the treasury, said that the stimulus should last more than a month for the average American, he’s been one-upped by Republican Senator Mitch McConnell. If McConnell has his way, he’d rather the state you live in go bankrupt then help struggling Americans pay their bills. Instead, he’s focused on the $484 coronavirus aid relief, which will mostly replenish a small-business payroll fund and provide new money for hospitals and expanded testing. That bill doesn’t include funding for state and local governments or any more money allotted for workers who would inevitably help get the economy back up and running.
“My view is: We just added another $500 billion to the national debt. Let’s see how things are working,” McConnell said. “We need to weigh our obligations vs. [states and cities], since they have taxing authorities as well, and how to divide up the responsibility. So we’re not going to move on another bill related to this subject until we all get back here.”
His solution? To jumpstart the economy, he just wants to open everything up again. And while the economy would improve, it’d inevitably fatten the curve that so many people have worked tirelessly to flatten over the past month. Until then, he’d rather just let states declare bankruptcy.
“I would certainly be in favor of allowing states to use the bankruptcy route,” he said Wednesday when asked by radio host Hugh Hewitt if they need to update the bankruptcy codes to remove some of the liabilities from states. “It’s saved some cities, and there’s no good reason for it not to be available.”
Democrat and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy vehemently disagree with McConnell’s comments, going as far as to call them “completely and utterly irresponsible.”
“Come on, man. That is completely and utterly irresponsible. There’s no level of responsibility associated with that, and I don’t care what party you’re in,” Murphy said Wednesday. “Encouraging, engendering explicitly, almost hoping for bankruptcies of American states in the midst of the biggest health care crisis this country has ever faced is completely and utterly irresponsible.”
Forcing states to cut budgets and cut further aid to those in need would just put Americans in a darker place than they are now. Other proposed bills like one that suggests a $2,000 per month stimulus check is much more humane as 22 million are out of work, and the number continues to skyrocket.
