Gov. Cuomo says $2 trillion stimulus bill is 'terrible' for New York

Source: Market Watch

Published: March 25, 2020 at 3:50 p.m. ET
By Beckie Strum

He also renews call for more ventilators as COVID-19 cases in the state rise

Gov. Andrew Cuomo ripped the U.S. Senate’s $2 trillion federal stimulus plan on Wednesday as inadequate for New York, the country’s epicenter of the COVID-19 crisis, while he renewed calls for the 15,000 ventilators the state will need in the next few weeks for the mounting victims of the virus.

“It would really be terrible,” Cuomo said in a news conference, adding that the state government would get $3.8 billion and New York City would get only $1.3 billion, despite having more people with coronavirus than anywhere else in the U.S. As of Wednesday morning,15,597 people had tested positive for the coronavirus in New York City, seven times the number of cases in all of California, and 192 have died.

Though “$3.8 billion sounds like a lot of money,” New York is looking at a budget shortfall between $8 billion and $15 billion, he said. The virus has already cost the state roughly $1 billion and could wind up costing several billion dollars by the end of the crisis, he added.

The Senate planned to vote Wednesday on the $2 trillion stimulus package, the biggest relief in American history, finalized in the wee hours of Tuesday night between senators and the White House. It was still hitting snags ahead of the vote as critics, like Cuomo, demanded changes. The House has not said when it would vote on the bill, which would then go to President Trump to sign.


Read more: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/gov-andrew-cuomo-says-2-trillion-stimulus-bill-is-terrible-for-new-york-2020-03-25?mod=home-page