Given the economic devastation wrought by the coronavirus pandemic and the incompetent federal government’s response, it’s only a matter of time before all states and municipalities need bailing out. Yet Republicans have been whining about “blue state bailouts” given the need to rescue states and municipalities hardest hit by the pandemic. Yesterday, it was senators in Florida, Kansas, and Kentucky as well as impeached president Donald Trump. Today, the administration has continued to beat the drum:
But perhaps those senators should’ve kept their mouth shut as it is their own states, just a day later, who are now extending their hands to ask for help.
First up, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell’s hometown in Kentucky:
Kentucky already is the nation’s largest recipient of federal largess. Will Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell really resist the urge to go back out and ask for more to help his struggling state?
Then there’s Kansas.
Uh oh. Look at that. Predictable. But both Kansas senators have firmly come out against state bailouts. Awkward. Perhaps this is a good opportunity for Kansas residents to consider whether to elect another Republican for the vacant seat caused by Sen. Pat Robert’s retirement, or whether it’s time to follow up 2018’s stunning Democratic pickup with an even more stunning Senate flip this year. You know that Dr. Barbara Bollier wouldn’t be trying to block federal aid to disaster-stuck states.
Then there’s Florida. Tourist-dependent Florida. Suddenly empty Florida. And you know what happens when a state’s top industry evaporates overnight, right?
“[T]he negotiated budget that held up the session’s ending will probably be drastically changed when new revenue projections show the loss of tax dollars collected,” reported the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “Without a state income tax, Florida is heavily reliant on sales tax collections that will be greatly diminished by the closing of bars, restaurants, movie theaters, theme parks, stores and other businesses.”
Tourists aren’t coming back in any real numbers anytime soon, and forget foreign tourists from Latin America, Canada, and Europe. There will be little appetite for big crowds.
Throw in the hit to the economy with people cutting Disney World from their plans as a money-saving measure, and you’ve got a state without its key source of income.
Oh, and this year’s hurricane season is expected to be extra rough, perhaps the worst in a decade.
Florida will be asking for federal dollars before long.
So quit the blue state bashing and just concede that all states and municipalities will be hurting from this disaster, and future disasters, and that in a United States of America, all the states help all the other states.
Otherwise, let’s just go ahead and split the country into this.
