US states that were "poorly managed" financially before the coronavirus pandemic will not receive aid from the federal state, the US Treasury Secretary said on Tuesday. "States that have been mismanaged beforehand are not going to get a federal bailout , " said Steven Mnuchin on Fox Business television when asked about the possibility of helping the state in particular. from Illinois, in the north of the country. The state asked for 40 billion aid, including 10 billion to resolve pre-existing difficulties, according to the journalist for the American channel.
Conversely, Steven Mnuchin has not ruled out possible federal aid to New York and its neighbor to New Jersey, who have expenses linked to the "very, very high" coronavirus . "We have already sent them money, which will allow them to specifically finance expenses related to the coronavirus, and not the loss of income," he commented.
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He finally stressed that in all cases, it would be necessary to obtain a broad consensus of Republicans and Democrats to grant aid to the States. "The last two bills (in terms of economic assistance) were adopted with unanimous consent ," he said, saying it was "healthy" to have a debate on the criteria for the granting of state aid.
The Democratic congressional leaders were indignant at his statements on "mismanaged" states , suggesting a new showdown around the next aid plan which is still at the very beginning of negotiations.
The US Congress approved a historic $ 2,000 billion plan to support the US economy at the end of March, followed by a new, partly complementary, package of $ 500 billion last week. Democrats and Republicans widely supported these plans and Donald Trump promulgated them in stride.
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The next component "must include solid (...) funding from states and local authorities to pay workers on the front lines," Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said during a press conference with a union, AFSCME. "We need two things," added the leader of the Democratic minority in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, at the same conference: "a vast increase in funding from states and local authorities, and (...) to make sure that they can use these funds to compensate for the lost income ” due to the pandemic, he added.
