Mitch McConnell takes a risk igniting firestorm with governors over COVID-19 aid

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is drawing the wrath of governors around the country and officials at home for suggesting that states file for bankruptcy rather than seek more federal funds to combat the coronavirus pandemic. 

The Kentucky Republican, speaking on a conservative radio program, referred to the calls for more money as "blue state bailouts" while criticizing generous public pensions.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, barked back at McConnell during a Thursday news briefing by reminding the GOP that the Empire State puts much more into the federal pot than the Bluegrass State.

"Sen. McConnell, who's getting bailed out here? It's your state that is living on the money that we generate," he said. "Your state is getting bailed out. Not my state."

New York puts $116 billion more into the federal pot than it takes out, Cuomo added, whereas Kentucky takes out $148 billion more than it puts in.

Thursday afternoon, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, also a Democrat, said the next legislative package must include budgetary relief for local and state governments.

He warned that declaring bankruptcy, while technically legal, would allow a judge to draft the state's budget and puts them in a position to potentially raise taxes on everybody across Kentucky.

"This is necessary," Beshear said of federal aid. "It will cripple our efforts to rebuild if we don't see a package, not only for states, but cities and counties. … It's not just a prop for us, it's for every city and county in Kentucky."

McConnell, who is up for reelection in 2020, has sought credit for shepherding many of the COVID-19 relief bills through Congress since the outbreak began to choke the U.S. economy.

Live coronavirus updates:The latest on COVID-19 in Kentucky

The GOP leader has boasted from his Washington office and through his campaign team how he helped pass a $2 trillion piece of legislation that delivered direct payments to American citizens and provided funding for small businesses and larger corporations.

And he has often touted how such proposals have benefited Kentucky directly.

But the brewing battle over helping cities and states has thrown McConnell into the hot seat.

McConnell is at risk of criticism at home as temperatures rise after the latest $484 billion coronavirus relief package that Congress passed failed to include local and state government funding.

A March study by WalletHub found that Kentucky is the fifth-most dependent state on federal money and that 13 of the 15 states most reliant on federal funding supported President Donald Trump in the 2016 general election.

WalletHub looks at two factors: state government dependency and resident dependency. The Kentucky state government ranked eighth in dependency while its residents ranked sixth.

Beshear has been working closely with McConnell's office on the COVID-19 response. He made clear on Wednesday that every state is in desperate need for federal funds to stabilize their economies.

"If the federal government does not provide that aid it will further exacerbate the recession that we are in," he said. "It will make restarting the economy that much more difficult. It'll create additional hardships. … We absolutely need that help."

Background:McConnell says states should 'use the bankruptcy route' 

The McConnell campaign's latest advertisement — dubbed "steady hand" — shared with The Courier Journal reminds voters that he has been in the middle of U.S. crises from the initial response to the terror attacks of 9/11 to the 2008 financial meltdown.

"Leader McConnell’s experience is unparalleled, and it is exactly that experience that enables him to help a nation in crisis and to deliver key wins for the Bluegrass State. He hears the needs of Kentuckians and moves swiftly to answer their call," McConnell campaign manager Kevin Golden said in a statement Thursday.

A McConnell spokesman said if the senator issues any additional statements responding to Cuomo's remarks he would provide them to The Courier Journal.

But across the country, cities and states are being forced to furlough public employees and cut services as the contagion tanks entire sectors of the economy.

In Louisville, where McConnell lives, the city announced the furlough of 380 employees and faces a staggering $115 million budget shortfall. Local leaders have pleaded with the senator to do more.

"We will have far, far, far less resources to deliver the resources that Louisvillians deserve," Mayor Greg Fischer said in an April 8 interview. "… As Congress gets together, they are really our only solution. We need to see more relief, more stimulus from the federal government." 

U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, a Democrat from Louisville, also chastised McConnell for walking away from states.

"Throwing up your hands and telling them to declare bankruptcy is not a solution, it’s an abdication," he said. "I will continue to fight for this vital funding to be included in the next phase of relief so our state and local leaders have the resources and flexibility they need to successfully lead us out of this crisis.”

For subscribers:McGrath's rivals have pitiful fundraising totals, but why?

McConnell is walking a tightrope, as evidenced during a Wednesday press conference in which he acknowledged the fiscal struggles cities and states face.

"Now, we know that they are all suffering," he told reporters in Washington. "We know that they have got revenue problems, but my view is we have gone so far on the national debt here that the next time we address this issue the Senate should be back in session, fully up and running with everybody involved in the discussion."

He is looking to hold back the GOP base that is clamoring for a relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions. The majority leader also must deal with members of the Republican caucus who are concerned about hefty relief bills.

Kentucky's junior senator, Rand Paul, is among those fiscal hawks who have opposed the spending.

"No amount of money — not all the money in China — will save us from ourselves," Paul said during a floor speech Tuesday. "Our only hope of rescuing this great country is to reopen the economy. If you print up billions of dollars and give it to people, they're unlikely to spend it until you end the quarantine."

McConnell followed that line of thinking to a degree when he said Wednesday that federal leaders should wait to see how the economy reacts to prior proposals, especially in states that are less affected by the virus.

"Let's see what we are doing that is succeeding, what is not succeeding, what needs less, what needs more," he said. "Let's weigh this very carefully because the future of our country in terms of the amount of debt that we are adding up is a matter of genuine concern." 

'We cannot wait':Metro Council begs McConnell, Yarmuth for federal funding

Speaking on conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt's program, McConnell signaled how that is at the forefront of his mind. He told Hewitt that "what states have done, many of them have done to themselves with their pension programs."

"There's not going to be any desire on the Republican side to bail out state pensions by borrowing money from future generations," McConnell said.

Kentucky has notoriously had its own pension woes, and voters booted former Gov. Matt Bevin in part for his handling of that crisis. The Republican-controlled legislature has made little effort to make major overhauls to the system even with supermajorities in both chambers.

But at look at the response from McConnell's allies shows they are pushing back at the scathing and bipartisan criticism by suggesting Democratic governors are to blame for not having finances in order ahead of the COVID-19 crisis.

"I really don’t know how liberal (governors) can keep a straight face," Republican strategist Josh Holmes, a former McConnell chief of staff, said in a tweet Thursday. "Tax the s--- out of their voters; ask feds to hide their fleecing with deductions; spend all the taxpayer money; secure a $150 billion bailout; then act like they still can’t support their first responders."

Once the Senate returns, McConnell will have to find a way to satisfy the fiscal hawks in the GOP while catering to Kentuckians, who are overly reliant on federal help.

Democrat Amy McGrath, the front-runner in Kentucky's U.S. Senate primary election, is ready to take advantage of McConnell's jam. She underscored how the GOP leader views everything through partisan glasses.

"How about we stop thinking in partisan terms of blue and red and start seeing in red, white, and blue?" she said in a tweet Thursday. "We need more patriots as leaders, not longtime partisans … especially now during this national crisis."

Fischer:Louisville's revenue losses to top $100M if Congress doesn't 'step up'

McGrath also echoed Democratic governors and senators who pilloried McConnell's stance as one that will hurt average Americans first.

Knowing how Kentuckians a few months prior booted an unpopular Republican governor from office who tried to make changing pensions his legacy, the retired Marine fighter pilot said the McConnell message of bankruptcy is a slap in the face to the teachers, police and firefighters, "that their pensions aren't worth saving."

"Mitch McConnell would rather states file for BANKRUPTCY than give state workers vital aid to fund their pensions," McGrath said in an Wednesday tweet "Mitch had no problem giving corporations billions, but unlike corporations, everyday Kentuckians don’t have lobbyists."

Reach Phillip M. Bailey at pbailey@courier-journal.com or 502-582-4475. Follow him on Twitter at @phillipmbailey.