Mayor de Blasio, Governor Cuomo, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Speaker Karl Heasty, and union leaders sent a letter to members of the New York delegation to Congress calling for emergency financial assistance to the state and city of New York from funds currently under discussion at the Capitol. hill of incentive package. The authors of the letter believe that without such assistance, the state’s economy will suffer irreparable damage.
It is emphasized that New York took the hardest hit from the COVID-19 epidemic at a time when the virus, which came from China and Europe, spread across the United States. It is the federal government’s responsibility to ensure that the country is not closed on time. The $ 908 billion bailout package is to be distributed among states in proportion to the damage incurred. New York leads the country in the number of deaths from coronavirus and in unemployment rates. Federal funds from the stimulus package cannot be based on political considerations. The only fair criterion is the level of economic disaster, and in this sense, New York has the right to count on priority, not to mention being the recognized “economic engine” of the entire country.
The state is now in dire need of federal assistance. If MTA does not receive $ 4.5 billion already this year, 9 thousand employees of the agency will be fired, and tariffs and tolls on public transport will be raised above the inflation rate. The state needs to receive at least $ 15 billion, and the city of New York – at least $ 9 billion. Otherwise, tax increases, further cuts in workers in key areas, new debts are inevitable.
Newspaper headline:
Leaders cry for help