DeSantis and Noem fret that COVID-19 relief money is somehow unfair to their states. Reality differs
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Republican governors are experiencing the benefits of President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan. Their budgets are afloat on a tide of money coming from the COVID-19 relief bill, which is funding priorities from rural hospitals to water and sewer systDeSantis and Noem fret that COVID-19 relief money is somehow unfair to their states. Reality differs
Republican governors are experiencing the benefits of President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan. Their budgets are afloat on a tide of money coming from the COVID-19 relief bill, which is funding priorities from rural hospitals to water and sewer systems to affordable housing. That fact has not stopped their whining about the law, though. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem railed against it as “a giant handout from Washington, D.C.” in a budget address explaining that she was spending the money on water projects, childcare, and more. Why didn’t she just refuse the dirty, dirty handout? Because “Giving that money back means that money goes to another state—to California, to New Jersey, maybe Illinois, Michigan, or Minnesota. That money is not going back into South Dakota taxpayers’ pockets.” Funny story: three of the five states on her list send more money to the federal government in taxes than they get in funding. South Dakota does not. And that’s fine! Part of the point of having a federal government is to help states that need it. But it’s important context for her implication that the federal government is siphoning money out of South Dakota to benefit other, bluer states. Read more