The Senate’s $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill may be the largest rescue package in U.S. history, but it doesn’t provide nearly enough for New York state, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday.
The bill, tentatively approved early Wednesday, “would really be terrible for the state of New York,” Cuomo said at his daily briefing in Albany.
Cuomo’s criticism came as White House officials made clear that President Donald Trump plans to sign the massive relief bill into law as soon as Congress sends it to him.
Cuomo said the bill provides $3.8 billion for New York State, of which only $1.3 billion will be sent to New York City.
“Sounds like a lot of money,” Cuomo said. But it’s far below the shortfall in revenue that the state projects it will face, which the governor said could total $15 billion.
“That is a drop in the bucket” compared with what New Yorkers need, he said. “How do you plug a $15 billion hole with $3.8 billion? You don’t.”
Cuomo’s spokeswoman Dani Lever suggested in a statement later Wednesday that the Senate bill would give New York even less than what the governor initially outlined.
“Based on initial reports, New York State government gets approximately $3.1 billion,” Lever said in the statement. “As a percent of our total state budget – 1.9% – it is the second lowest amount in the nation.”
“The gross political manipulation is obvious,” Lever said. “Compounding this inequity is the fact that New York State contributes more to the federal government than any other state in the nation. It is just another case of politics over sound policy.”
New York has become the epicenter of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak.
More than 30,000 COVID-19 cases have been counted across the state as of Wednesday morning, accounting for more than half of all confirmed cases in the country. New York City may close parks, playgrounds and some streets to reduce density in the latest effort to contain the virus, the governor said Wednesday.
Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/25/coronavirus-money-senate-bill-would-be-terrible-for-new-york-cuomo-says.html
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