At a time when huge spending bills marked "Coronavirus relief" are easily passing Congress with little scrutiny, poorly run states are asking unscrupulous members of Congress to slip in taxpayer bailouts to rescue them from years of their own fiscal mismanagement.
In response, the House of Representatives recently passed a coronavirus relief bill that includes a half trillion dollars in unrestricted funds to bail out state governments for years of reckless expenditures entirely unrelated to the pandemic.
People are suffering, and federal taxpayers have already sent states and localities hundreds of billions of dollars to help pay for expenses related to fighting the coronavirus.
Some states haven't even spent all of their coronavirus grant money because the pandemic didn't hit them as hard as anticipated, yet many are asking for more.
Sen. Rick Scott is one of the voices in Congress speaking out against state bailouts, calling the funding "a piggy bank for unrelated expenses that have nothing to do with responding to the coronavirus." He rightly warns that the money will be used to bail out pension plans, reward decades of mismanagement, and encourage states to become even more dependent on the federal government.
Many states want to use the money to rescue their woefully underfunded pension plans.
In 2003, states received $20 billion in federal aid, but instead of balancing their books, many states just increased their spending and debt.
In response, the House of Representatives recently passed a coronavirus relief bill that includes a half trillion dollars in unrestricted funds to bail out state governments for years of reckless expenditures entirely unrelated to the pandemic.
People are suffering, and federal taxpayers have already sent states and localities hundreds of billions of dollars to help pay for expenses related to fighting the coronavirus.
Some states haven't even spent all of their coronavirus grant money because the pandemic didn't hit them as hard as anticipated, yet many are asking for more.
Sen. Rick Scott is one of the voices in Congress speaking out against state bailouts, calling the funding "a piggy bank for unrelated expenses that have nothing to do with responding to the coronavirus." He rightly warns that the money will be used to bail out pension plans, reward decades of mismanagement, and encourage states to become even more dependent on the federal government.
Many states want to use the money to rescue their woefully underfunded pension plans.
In 2003, states received $20 billion in federal aid, but instead of balancing their books, many states just increased their spending and debt.
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