Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's calls to allow the states to go bankrupt in lieu of federal coronavirus pandemic relief is "shameful," according to Rep. Pete King, R-N.Y.
"We have to find a way to get aid to the states and local governments," King told Sunday's "The Cats Roundtable" on 970 AM-N.Y. "We're not talking about extravagances. We're talking about basics."
King equates this national emergency, particularly in New York City, the world epicenter of the global pandemic, to that of "a hurricane, a tornado, a flood."
"When that happens to a state or region, the federal government steps in," King added to host John Catsimatidis. "That's what we have to have here. And that's why I was so outraged when Sen. McConnell said that states should file for bankruptcy rather than get reimbursed for their coronavirus losses — which to me was just shameful.
"I call him the Marie Antoinette of the Senate: 'Let them eat cake! Let them go bankrupt!' It's wrong."
King is going to join Democrats to "fight hard for that money" in the next phase of economic stimulus relief when Congress resumes in May.
"Whenever any part of the country has been hit with a natural disaster, the federal government has always stepped up," King added.
"New York and the Northeast often get a raw deal from some other states in other parts of the country.
"Were all in this together," King concluded.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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