Governors across the U.S. are seeking a total of $500 billion to repair the economic damage done by the coronavirus pandemic.
They called it ‘catastrophic damage’, which will result in massive budget shortfalls and cuts to critical services if not backfilled by the federal government.
“In the absence of unrestricted fiscal support of at least $500 billion from the federal government, states will have to confront the prospect of significant reductions to critically important services all across this country, hampering public health, the economic recovery, and — in turn — our collective effort to get people back to work,” said National Governors Association Chair Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland and Vice Chair Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York in a statement Saturday.
The $2.2 trillion CARES Act already passed by Congress provides $150 billion for state and local governments, but that money can only be spent for limited purposes directly related to the response to the outbreak.
With economic ramifications from the crisis expected to hang over their budgets for years to come, governors say that is simply not enough.
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