Governor Andrew Cuomo says New York has paid its dues to the federal government and deserves more money to help recover from the financial burden of coronavirus response. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell does not agree.
McConnell has said that a federal bailout would amount to favoritism of blue states, who have more infected people, over red states.
Cuomo calls it an “ugly sentiment” and says politics must be put aside in this crisis.
“You have human suffering, you have people dying, you can’t stop the politics, even in this moment?” Cuomo said. “That’s what this is about, and that’s why it is so disturbing on a fundamental level.”
The governor continues to argue that New York and other Democratic states pay more in taxes to the federal government than do red states, and that in proportion, Democratic states get less money back.
And he says regular Americans are not as politically divided. He cites the example of tens of thousands of health care professionals from across the country who volunteered to come to New York to help care for Covid patients.
New York pays $29 billion more to the federal government than it receives each year, while Senator McConnell’s home state of Kentucky receives $37 billion more it they pays.
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