For weeks, America’s states have been counting on Congress to come through with hundreds of billions of dollars of aid to help them with a …
For weeks, America’s states have been counting on Congress to come through with hundreds of billions of dollars of aid to help them with a financial avalanche set off by the nation’s economic collapse. Instead, with some Senate Republicans balking at another round of federal stimulus and negotiations in shambles, President Donald Trump added another burden. In an executive order on Saturday, he extended $400 per week in additional unemployment benefits – but is asking states to foot a quarter of the bill. “It’s completely unrealistic,” said Josh Bivens, director of research for the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank in Washington. “States need a lot more money from the federal government. They don’t need new demands to pay money. They’re already in the hole.” On the front lines of fighting the coronavirus since the Trump administration ceded much of the responsibility to the states, governments are being hit hard by the economic shutdowns ordered to contain it. With more than 16 million people relying on unemployment benefits, nearly a dozen states – including New York, California, and Texas – have already exhausted their trust funds and borrowed almost $20 billion from the U. S. Treasury to cover their share of the checks. Sales taxes have tumbled by the most on record, and income taxes are eroding, too. All told, the pandemic may leave states with budget shortfalls of $555 billion through 2022, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
