华盛顿——总统乔·拜登周五，他在白宫会见了一个由州长和市长组成的两党小组，这是他推动美国财政部提供财政援助的一部分冠状病毒流行病蔓延到州和地方政府——这是共和党议员们意见分歧的明显来源，他们认为这种支出是浪费。
作为1.9万亿美元冠状病毒一揽子计划的一部分，拜登希望向州和地方政府以及部落政府提供3500亿美元。虽然国会共和党人在很大程度上反对这一倡议，但拜登的推动在州长和市长中获得了一些共和党的支持。
拜登在椭圆形办公室会议开始时说:“你们从第一天起就站在第一线处理危机。”。“在许多情况下，他们一直在独立工作。”
共和党议员强调，过去对州和地方政府的一些援助仍未用完，收入在冠状病毒首次袭击时暴跌后有所反弹。但根据劳动统计局的数据，自去年2月疫情开始蔓延以来，州政府已裁员33.2万人，地方政府已裁员近100万人。
共和党政府。阿肯色州的阿萨·哈钦森(Asa Hutchinson)和马里兰州的拉里·霍根(Larry Hogan)以及包括纽约的安德鲁·科莫(Andrew Cuomo)和新墨西哥州的米歇尔·卢汉·格里沙姆(Michelle Lujan Grisham)在内的民主党州长出席了周五的会议。亚特兰大、底特律、迈阿密和得克萨斯州阿灵顿的市长也出席了会议。新奥尔良市长拉托娅·坎特雷尔(LaToya Cantrell)原定出席，但据她的新闻秘书说，由于白宫的健康筛查和安全协议，她不能出席。
迈阿密市长弗朗西斯·苏亚雷斯(Francis Suarez)是一名共和党人，他称讨论热烈，并表示过去对地方政府的援助是不够的，因此需要更多的资金。
“我们的居民得到了他们需要的一小部分帮助，”苏亚雷斯在白宫简报会上说，并补充说，该市“将充分利用这笔钱。”
根据众议院委员会本周制定的救助方案，每个州和哥伦比亚特区将获得至少5亿美元，但大多数流向各州的资金将根据全国失业人员的比例进行分配。
哈钦森说，他反对该计划1.9万亿美元的价格标签和使用就业数据来引导资金流向州和地方政府的战略。
“这对经济增长和人们工作来说确实是一个抑制因素，”哈钦森告诉美联社。“我说过，唯一公平的做法是按人均水平向各州分配资金。这是公平的，这是无可争议的，我认为，总的来说，大多数州长都明白这一点，并希望如此。”
地方政府将获得1302亿美元，部落政府将获得200亿美元。
这笔钱可用于支付因大流行和收入损失而产生的费用，并解决该疾病的负面经济影响。
在去年3月签署成为法律的早期救助计划中，国会向州和地方政府提供了1500亿美元的直接援助。
周五，众议院监督和改革委员会成员就州和地方政府支出的好处进行了辩论。
该委员会的民主党主席、众议员卡罗琳·马洛尼(Carolyn Maloney)说，在这种流行病继续夺走生命和生计的时候，各州和社区迫切需要帮助。
“这笔钱将使这些政府能够更快地分发疫苗，更广泛地扩大测试，并在全国维持重要的服务，”马洛尼说。“这也将有助于主要街道的经济，并挽救我们的教师，急救人员和其他重要工作人员的工作。”
共和党议员将拟议中的3500亿美元支出描述为无用之物，从长远来看，这可能导致通货膨胀和经济崩溃。
资深共和党众议员詹姆斯·卡莫(James Comer)表示，各州仍有资金从国会去年3月通过的救助计划中支出。他播放了加州州长加文·纽瑟姆最近的一段视频，内容是关于高于预期的收入将如何让该州增加现金储备。
“尽管有盈余，加州仍从这3500亿美元的行贿基金中获得额外的412亿美元纳税人资金，”卡莫说。他接着将这笔支出描述为“蓝色州的大救助”
Biden: Governors, mayors need $350 billion to fight COVID-19
WASHINGTON -- President Joe Biden met with a bipartisan group of governors and mayors at the White House on Friday as part of his push to give financial relief from the coronavirus pandemic to state and local governments — a clear source of division with Republican lawmakers who view the spending as wasteful.
As part of a $1.9 trillion coronavirus package, Biden wants to send $350 billion to state and local governments and tribal governments. While Republicans in Congress have largely objected to this initiative, Biden's push has some GOP support among governors and mayors.
“You folks are all on the front lines and dealing with the crisis since day one,” Biden said at the start of the Oval Office meeting. “They’ve been working on their own in many cases.”
Republican lawmakers have stressed that some past aid to state and local governments remains unspent and revenues have rebounded after slumping when the coronavirus first hit. But state governments have shed 332,000 jobs since the outbreak began to spread last February, and local governments have cut nearly 1 million jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Republican Govs. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas and Larry Hogan of Maryland attended the Friday meeting, along with Democratic governors, including New York's Andrew Cuomo and New Mexico's Michelle Lujan Grisham. The mayors of Atlanta, Detroit, Miami and Arlington, Texas, also were at the meeting. New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell was set to attend, but she could not because of White House health screening and safety protocols, according to her press secretary.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, a Republican, called the discussion spirited and said the past aid to local governments was insufficient, so more money was needed.
“Our residents got a fraction of the help that they needed,” Suarez said at the White House briefing, adding that the city is ”going to put the money to good use.”
Under the relief package being crafted in House committees this week, every state and the District of Columbia would get at least $500 million, but most of the money going to states would be distributed based on their share of unemployed workers nationally.
Hutchinson said he objected to the plan's $1.9 trillion price tag and the strategy of using jobs figures to guide the flow of money to state and local governments.
“That’s really a disincentive for economic growth and people working," Hutchinson told The Associated Press. "I said the only fair way to do it is to distribute money to the states on a per capita basis. That’s fair, it’s undisputable and I think, by and large, most governors understand that and want that.”
Local governments would get $130.2 billion, and tribal governments would get $20 billion.
The money could be used to cover costs incurred because of the pandemic and lost revenue and to address the negative economic impact of the disease.
Congress provided $150 billion in direct assistance to state and local governments in an earlier relief package signed into law last March.
Members of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform debated the merits of the spending for state and local governments on Friday.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney, the committee’s Democratic chair, said states and communities are desperate for help at a time when the pandemic continues to take lives and livelihoods.
“This money will allow these governments to distribute vaccines faster, expand testing more broadly and maintain vital services across our country,” Maloney said. “It will also help Main Street economies and save the jobs of our teachers, first responders and other essential workers.”
Republican lawmakers described the proposed $350 billion in spending as a boondoggle that in the long run could cause inflation and an economic crash.
Rep. James Comer, the ranking Republican, said states still have money to spend from the relief package Congress passed last March. He played a video clip of California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently talking about how higher-than-expected revenues would allow the state to boost its cash reserves.
“Despite this surplus, California is still receiving an additional $41.2 billion in taxpayer dollars from this $350 billion slush fund,” Comer said. He went on to describe the spending as a “big blue state bailout.”
