Governor Hogan appeared on ABC after issuing a bipartisan statement on behalf of the nation’s governors calling on the federal government to provide “unrestricted fiscal support” of at least $500 billion directly to the states.
As The Washington Post recently detailed, states are already “in dire straits” financially from leading on the frontlines of the pandemic, “facing plunging tax revenue and spiking costs.” However, the recently passed federal CARES Act contained ZERO funding to offset these drastic state revenue shortfalls.
Maryland alone is facing a potential revenue loss of nearly $3 billion in just three months – a 15% drop in annual revenue over just one quarter. In the midst of an economic collapse and pandemic, states are already tightening their belts. On Friday, Governor Hogan announced a state hiring and budget freeze.
Without “immediate” support of at least $500 billion, states will be forced to make devastating cuts to “critically important services all across this country, hampering public health, the economic recovery, and – in turn – our collective effort to get people back to work.”