After initially backing federal aid to states, Trump questions ‘bailing out poorly run states’ like Illinois

As talk in Washington has swiftly moved to the next coronavirus relief package, President Donald Trump on Monday questioned whether federal taxpayers should provide money of “poorly run” states and cities run by Democrats, specifically citing Illinois.

“Why should the people and taxpayers of America be bailing out poorly run states (like Illinois, as example) and cities, in all cases Democrat run and managed, when most of the other states are not looking for bailout help?” Trump asked on Twitter.

“I am open to discussing anything, but just asking,” the president added.

Trump’s question was a reversal from late last week when, after the federal Paycheck Protection Program received a new injection of funds, he indicated support for addressing state and local government revenue shortfalls due to the pandemic as part of the next round of relief.

Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker said despite Trump’s tweet, he was confident the administration and Congress would include funding for states in the next federal relief package.

“If we don’t get any further federal aid, it will be extremely difficult not just for the state of Illinois but for many states. Not just for the ones that have Democratic governors but for Republican states as well,” Pritzker said at his daily coronavirus briefing.

“So, I know the president has said that he’s in favor, despite a tweet today, he’s in favor of support for the states, for state and local governments,” the governor said, adding that Vice President Mike Pence stated Trump’s support for such a package in a conversation with governors on Sunday.

Trump’s social media post was the latest twist in an ongoing debate over federal aid to state and local governments. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, suggested that states facing huge public employee pension debts be offered the opportunity to file for bankruptcy, which they are now prohibited from doing.

McConnell said Senate Republicans supported a “pause” in considering federal relief aid to states and cities, which drew criticism from Democrats as well as some Republicans.

Pritzker said, “Obviously, it’s Sen. McConnell that is an obstacle here,” noting that the senator’s state of Kentucky gets more federal money in return than its residents pay in federal taxes.

“We pay more in federal taxes in Illinois than we get back from the federal government. And so, actually the states that are being bailed out every year, year in and year out, are the states who take more money out of the federal dole than they put in in taxes,” Pritzker said.

“All states need it now because coronavirus, COVID-19, has blown a hole in every state budget all across the nation,” the governor said. “There’s not a single state that would not benefit from or that does not need support from another” federal relief package.

Controversy over federal help to states was magnified when Illinois Senate President Don Harmon of Oak Park earlier this month asked the state’s congressional delegation for more than $41.6 billion in federal aid, including $10 billion for the state’s vastly underfunded public employee pension system.

The state’s five GOP congressman rejected the request as an attempt to use federal money to paper over decades of mismanagement, including the pensions, which have a $138 billion unfunded liability.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised Sunday that the next coronavirus relief package will provide “significant” money for state and local governments, akin to the more than $600 billion that has gone to small business.

Criticized by some Democrats for not including local assistance funds in the latest package, Pelosi urged them to “just calm down” in an interview on CNN. “The governors are impatient,” Pelosi added.

Trump’s Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, told Fox News on Sunday that the administration will “consider” local aid in the next package but “we’ll only do it with bipartisan support.”

Democratic U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Schaumburg said he thought it was imperative to help state and local governments and to avoid laying off first responders dealing with the coronavirus.

“If you don’t take care of, or help those municipalities and state governments that are really suffering, they’re going to add to the woes of the economy by laying off hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of firefighters, police officers and other public servants and that only furthers the hole in which we’re in,” Krishnamoorthi said Sunday on WGN AM-720.

“I hope that my Republican counterparts really basically step up and talk about the need for this. It should not be a partisan issue at this point,” he said.