Political Quotes

“Mr. President, Congress has taken action in response to the coronavirus pandemic and its significant effects on workers, families, and the economy. It is because the State, Federal, and local governments shut down the U.S. economy for the first time in the 240- year history of our country. We enacted four laws in March and April, which CBO says has increased the deficit by at least $2.4 trillion, but that doesn't measure the entirety of the relief. If you add in support from programs initiated by the Fed and the Treasury, you would add trillions more of relief. One of the recent pieces of legislation, the CARES Act, devoted $150 billion of direct Federal relief to governments of the States, localities, territories, the District of Columbia, and Tribes. That is around 16 percent of the total fiscal year 2020 State general fund expenditures enacted prior to the public emergency. In addition to the $150 billion, CBO has identified hundreds of billions more from the various relief programs that are directed to State and local governments. From the $340 billion of emergency funding in the CARES Act alone, the Senate appropriators have told me that more than 80 percent, or roughly $275 billion, goes to States and localities. So, you can see, the CARES Act alone provided $150 billion of direct aid to State and local governments, and the emergency funding added $275 billion.…”