State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

3 Arguments for Federal Aid to State and Local Governments

Governing: If another federal coronavirus stimulus package is enacted, it's likely to be the last one to come out of the 116th Congress. That's why now is the time for leaders of state and local governments to blitz Capitol Hill and bring a new stimulus bill that offsets their governments' budget shortfalls over the finish line.

States alone will likely see about $350 billion in tax revenues evaporate over the next two years. At the same time, state Medicaid and other COVID-19-related health-care spending is expected to explode by over $150 billion. Local governments are being hit just as hard: In April alone, layoffs and furloughs helped to reduce the government workforce by nearly a million employees, and more than 800,000 of those jobs were lost in local government.

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