If The GOP Continues To Block Aid, States Like Florida Will Start Going Bankrupt

NPR issued a depressing report yesterday: States Are Broke And Many Are Eyeing Massive Cuts. One of the sticking points in coming to an agreement over the pandemic rescue package is that the already passed House bill, the $3 trillion HEROES Act, contains around a trillion dollars for state and local governments. The Republicans would like to see that come down a bit-- to zero.

NPR noted that the "pandemic could swipe roughly $200 billion from state coffers by June of next year... Record-high unemployment has wreaked havoc on personal income taxes and sales taxes, two of the biggest sources of revenue for states. Hawaii's and Nevada's tourism industries have crashed, and states like Alaska, Oklahoma and Wyoming have been hit by the collapse of oil markets. From March through May of this year, 34 states experienced at least a 20% drop in revenue compared with the same period last year.

With dwindling cash, cuts to education, health care and other areas are inevitable in many places. State leaders have described the situation as "unprecedented," "horrifying" and "devastating." Florida's Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, compared his state's budget cuts to the Red Wedding scene in HBO's Game of Thrones.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, said, "Responding to this crisis has created a multiyear budget crisis unlike anything the state has ever faced before, more than three times worse than the Great Recession."

For example, so far that state has cut nearly $190 million from higher education. Programs designed to reduce crime in Baltimore also took a hit, as did foster care providers and public defenders.

And state leaders everywhere are getting nervous as the economy shows little signs of a swift recovery.

In March, Congress worked quickly to pass an aid package worth $2 trillion-- called the CARES Act-- which offered relief to state and local governments, individuals, small and large businesses, and hospitals affected by the coronavirus crisis.

But language in the law requires that funds go to expenses related to COVID-19 and not to plug holes in budgets, with few exceptions (though some state leaders have used creative accounting to make the money work the way they want it to).

Republicans and Democrats in states such as Maryland, California, Michigan, Iowa, Georgia, New York and Illinois have asked Congress for additional funds that they say are critical to stay afloat.

Others don't agree. Last week, more than 200 state lawmakers signed onto a letter from the American Legislative Exchange Council, an organization of conservative lawmakers, opposing further federal money for states. The letter reads, "The American people are being forced to make difficult but fiscally responsible decisions during the pandemic, and states need to do the same."

The Democratic-led U.S. House passed a bill to inject more money into states, but many Republican lawmakers say any new money has to be for items directly related to the virus, not to pay down deficits in the states.

California has gone as far as preparing a contingency budget: If additional federal money does not come through, the state will have to furlough state workers and slash funding for state universities and courts. It would also mean that K-12 school districts and community colleges won't receive nearly $12 billion in upfront state payments at a time when costs could be at an all-time high.

"The federal government has a moral, ethical and economic obligation to help support the states," said California's Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom.

Florida was one of the states hit hardest-- from the coronavirus itself-- and by the economic and financial side-effects. Sometime this week, Florida will cross the half million cases mark, something only California-- which has a much bigger population-- has done. Florida has 23,156 cases per million residents, worse than New York and New Jersey. The only states worse off are Louisiana and Arizona, although Mississippi is catching up. Florida reported 245 more deaths today, bringing the state total to a rapidly increasing 7,402.

In a state that depends on tourists, what happens when there are few to none? After months of stalling and insisting that lawmakers would not need to return to Tallahassee to balance the budget, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis recently approved the largest financial vetoes in Florida history, canceling out more than $1 billion in spending for the upcoming fiscal year.

The state's revenue shortfall has ballooned to nearly $2.1 billion since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Unemployment in the state has soared to Depression-era levels and Medicaid rolls have swelled. Only some of the cuts are being supplanted by federal relief funds.

Florida initially avoided worst-case scenarios but is now seeing a surge in coronavirus infections, mere weeks after attempting to reopen shuttered businesses. Democrats, locked out of decision-making, have railed against DeSantis. "Just lead, damn it. Just lead," said state Democratic Rep. Janet Cruz.

Despite calls to roll back reopenings, DeSantis is holding firm, saying, "When you have a virus that disproportionally impacts one segment of society, to suppress a lot of working-age people at this point, I don't think would be very effective."

Florida progressive Katherine Norman

The Republican controlled state legislature is hoping voters don't notice that they aren't doing anything to help mitigate the catastrophe. I asked some of the sharpest Democrats running to replace them in November, like Katherine Norman, who is running for the state Senate seat currently held by Joe Gruters, co-chair of Trump's reelection campaign and chairman of the Florida Republican Party. "Florida's elected officials and long time Trump sycophants are banking on our complacency," she told me this morning. In my race in Sarasota and Charlotte County most people I speak to don't even know who our State Senator is. Little do they know. While the Florida GOP leaders operate to advance this administration on single voter issues to the detriment and neglect of constituents in District 23 and all Floridians, they also drive us toward the complete devastation of this entire nation, toward the existential crises of climate change and the mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic. While we hold moments of silence for the over 7,100 Floridians dead from COVID-19, Joe Gruters goes door-knocking. Taking group photos maskless, fistbumping volunteers building a red army in Tampa. How could any responsible leader in a COVID epicenter go door knocking while interacting in a group maskless? What could possibly motivate an elected official to risk the literal lives of citizens? Joe Gruters' entire career centers around his total and complete idealization of Trump."

"When we choose to endorse an individual versus ideals, policies, and vision, it is a dangerous slippery slope." Norman continued. "We must hold individuals and especially elected officials accountable for their actions. We cannot decide to endorse an individual that fails to live up to the standards they purport to represent. If elected officials do not live up to their promises, even within one's own party, they should be held accountable. This should be a normalized, accepted, and even promoted part of the political process. Our local leaders should be loyal to our districts, our counties, our communities. They should represent our values. This has been part of my experience in the Democratic Party as a candidate for the Florida Legislature. At the sometimes detriment of unity, the Democratic Party is inclusive, allowing for everyone to have am equal voice. This means we judge and evaluate the morals of many different perspectives which can lead to more diverse opinions within our party. I am incredibly proud of this facet of the Democratic Party. Democrats seek to be the party that strives for ideal human rights-- for one, for all. We do not strive for blind loyalty. We are the party of the people. Unfortunately, when Gruters sold out in late 2014, he decided to choose blind loyalty either because he is completely and utterly selfish, happy to exploit the political process to his financial gain, or because he is too completely ethically vacant and inept that he doesn't actually realize how devastating this administration's actions are. Either way this is a dangerous individual happy to claim to represent constituents' values while not fit to be representing the interests of constituents anywhere. How can he represent Sarasota and Charlotte County when he is forced to represent Trump?"

Jared West, also a progressive Democrat running against an entrenched Trumpist incumbent, told me that morning that "According to Rep. Sam Killebrew (HD41), he’s proud of the state budget and Florida is in a good place. But then again, he also voted against having a special session to fix unemployment, expand Medicaid, and auto enroll Floridians in vote by mail. He also spent 80+ days during this crisis ignoring his constituents and hiding in his multi-million dollar home and not speaking about or helping at all. He left paper unemployment applications outside of his locked district office-- that’s the extent of what he’s done to help during this crisis. And he won’t do anything else, because he’s so deep in bed with businesses. He’s raised over $50,000.00 and only one donation of $250.00 is from a person, but he does have over 6 donations of $1000 from Walt Disney World, and donations from predatory companies like Amscot. He doesn’t care about the people of Florida, and as his constituents lose homes and 25% (pre coronavirus) are food insecure, he hasn’t done a damn thing to fix it."

Anselm Weber is running strong for an open red-leaning district in southwest Florida. He told me that whichever of the two Republicans who will face him after their primary "has made his whole campaign about supporting the Trump agenda without any attention given to Floridians facing eviction, low wages, or who have lost health insurance. They chickened out of a League of Women Voters' forum with me, probably because they knew I would give massive pushback against their ludicrous 'plans.' They would rather us go back to work while putting the working class through massive health hazards than do basic relief measures. It is desperation mode in the sunshine state, yet the state and the GOP would rather do socialism for the rich and rugged individualism for low income residents."

Progressive Democrat Joshua Hicks is running in a northeast Florida state House district that includes all of Nassau County and part of Duval. He told me that "Earlier this year, when the coronavirus was starting to impact Florida, my opponent, Cord Byrd, had an opportunity to place people over politics. He had an opportunity to support a special Legislative Session that would have addressed the ongoing crisis going on in Florida. With so many Floridians struggling right now, especially small businesses and those who lost their jobs at no fault of their own, he had an opportunity to place the district first. He failed. My opponent voted against a special session to expand Medicaid, address Florida's broken unemployment system, and protect the right to vote during the pandemic. This was just the latest example of Cord Byrd’s failed leadership in District 11. He pays lip service to constituents, but when it comes to working on concrete solutions which provides the people immediate relief, he says no. This shouldn’t be a partisan issue. It’s about helping families who are struggling at no fault of their own. We have an economy that’s devastated. Unemployed workers and small businesses still need relief. We’re in the middle of a global health crisis and uninsured Floridians need healthcare. Sadly, my opponent only cares about what's best for him, not the people he represents. That's why I'm running to beat him this November. We need someone in Tallahassee who will place the people first and address the issues that matter most. It's time we 'cut the cord' on Cord Byrd in Northeast Florida."