In a fresh sign that Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio won’t be getting the vast federal bailouts they’ve been hoping for, President-to-be Joe Biden is reportedly pushing congressional Democrats to settle for a smaller relief bill.
“Smaller” is still huge: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell supports a $500 billion bill that focuses on small-business relief and public-health funding. But Speaker Nancy Pelosi has held out for months, demanding $2.2 trillion, including more than $400 billion for state and local governments.
Congress is back in session — and both President Trump and Biden want a relief bill passed fast: Parts of the CARES Act expire by year’s end, ending many unemployment payments (including $300-a-week “bonus” benefits) and eviction protections.
Trump has wanted a deal, while Biden’s team fears a double-dip recession hitting just as the new president takes office. One Biden-allied economist sees 3 million jobs lost in the first half of 2021.
A Biden spokesman denied it, but The New York Times reports that he’s pushing Pelosi to cut a deal that gets Americans relief quickly. Notably, Biden ally Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) wrote in the Hartford Courant: “I’m realistic about the fact that we will need to compromise to get another stimulus passed.”
And that $400 billion bailout for state and local governments has been the No. 1 no-no for the GOP. It’s unlikely next year, too, since Pelosi will have one of the smallest House majorities in a century — leaving her even less able to work her will.
All of which means that Cuomo and de Blasio, who’ve both been kicking the can on dealing with gaping multibillion-dollar deficits, are staring at grim reckonings.
De Blasio’s done almost nothing to prepare. Cuomo’s been a bit more frugal — except when it comes to his own ambitions.
State Budget Director Robert Mujica required any new hiring get his department’s OK, with only workers “essential to protect health and safety” eligible. Yet the Times Union found that Cuomo’s office has hired four Democratic presidential-campaign vets, at $567,000 in total salaries.
So Cuomo is putting future workers for his own White House run on the public payroll even as he’s putting all other government in the state, including school districts, on a strict diet. Nice “leadership,” sir.