New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Thursday tore into Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell after the Republican senator declared that states should be allowed to declare bankruptcy instead of getting unrestricted funds from the latest coronavirus relief package.
“This is really one of the dumbest ideas of all time,” Cuomo said during Thursday’s coronavirus briefing. The Democratic governor argued that not funding state and local governments is “incredibly short-sighted,” pointing out that McConnell’s plan ignores police and fire departments, teachers, and schools.
“How do you not fund police and fire and teachers and schools in the midst of this crisis?” Cuomo asked incredulously.
“States should declare bankruptcy? That’s how you’re going to bring this national economy back? By states declaring bankruptcy? You want to see that market fall through the cellar?” Cuomo continues. “Let New York state declare bankruptcy. Let Michigan declare bankruptcy. … You will see a collapse of this national economy.”
Cuomo then turned to McConnell’s contention that this is a “blue state bailout.”
“How ugly a thought,” Cuomo fumed. “Just think of that he’s saying … 15,000 people died in New York, but they were predominantly Democrats, so why should we help them? I mean, for crying out loud, if there was ever a time for you to put aside your pettiness and your partisanship and this political lens that you see the world through … that’s not who we are.”
He later referred to McConnell as a “self-proclaimed grim reaper.”
Watch the video below.
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