Our nation has experienced a pandemic not seen in a century, and it has required the courage and sacrifice of Kansans – whether they’ve been fighting on the frontlines in the health care industries, forced to close their small business due to shutdowns, or lost their jobs at no fault of their own.
In Congress, I’ve worked with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to address this pandemic. Not every bill has been perfect. But we established the Paycheck Protection Program to keep employees connected with their small business employer, expanded leave to ensure workers could care for themselves and their families, included funding for testing and the development of a vaccine, and provided relief to Americans through Economic Impact Payments.
Still, there are many in Congress – and liberal governors throughout the country – who want to use this crisis as a way to fill budget shortfalls.
There’s no question that the pandemic has impacted all aspects of life, but we should be focused on providing more help to workers, small businesses, families and farmers – not government agencies.
One of the problems with the state bailout outcry is that we haven’t seen the full effect of what states may or may not need, and we’ve already provided a lot of money to help states fight the coronavirus which has yet to be exhausted. Kansas alone has received $1.25 billion. Yes, that’s “billion” with a “B.”
Also, Real Clear Politics reported over the weekend that other states have already balanced their budgets, like Texas, Nebraska and South Dakota. Why should those taxpayers have to fill the budget gaps of other states?
And as I wrote back in April for Fox News, “Sending the same taxpayer dollar to Washington first just to send it back to the state to fill a hole in the state budget isn’t logical. All that does is allow federal politicians to take credit for the funding.”
States like California and Illinois have mismanaged their budgets for decades, and the current pandemic has only made it worse. Meanwhile, other states have been good stewards of taxpayer dollars. Kansans don’t need to be sending their tax dollars to California and Illinois. Let’s keep those dollars here and reinvest in the Sunflower State.
Sincerely,
Rep. Ron Estes