On Feb. 23, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a $7.6 billion bailout to provide $600 or more in grants to low-income state residents, including illegal immigrants. Small businesses, community college students, child care providers and others will also receive grants. The picture shows the newly printed $100 bill.
President Joe Biden signed a new $1.9 trillion Epidemic relief bill Thursday afternoon (March 11). The bill includes hundreds of billions of dollars in funding for state and local governments, with California, Texas and New York receiving more than a quarter of the total amount.
The bill, formally known as the American Rescue Plan, includes $350 billion in discretionary aid for state and local governments, including $195.3 billion directly to states and Washington, D.C.; $130.2 billion allocated to local governments; another $20 billion would be allocated to federally recognized tribal governments, while $4.5 billion would go to U.S. territories.
According to Fox Business, the bill allocates funds according to state unemployment rates, not population. This has upset Republican states in the South and Midwest, as these red states typically have lower unemployment rates. Under the epidemic, many Democratic-led states have imposed strict lockdowns, but their Republican counterparts have often adopted a more liberal strategy for preventing the epidemic, allowing businesses to stay open as long as possible during the outbreak.
California, the most populous state, would receive the most money, as much as $42.3 billion, including $26.2 billion for its state government and $14.6 billion for various local governments; Texas, the second most populous state, would receive $27.3 billion, according to data released by the House Oversight Committee.
Florida is the third most populous state in the country and New York is the fourth most populous, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 estimates. But New York will receive $23.5 billion, the third largest in the nation, while Florida will receive only $17.3 billion, coming in fourth in the country.
Democrats have been accused by House Republicans of this allocation principle. According to this allocation principle, Florida, led by the Republican governor, will receive a shrinkage of $1.2 billion in financial assistance. Another Republican-led state, Georgia, also invariably received $1.3 billion less in aid. But it’s not just Republican states that will “lose out”; under current standards, Democratic-led Virginia will also receive 14 percent less “revenue.
State and local government funding was one of the most controversial issues during the bailout negotiations and is still being hotly debated. Republicans are calling it the “Blue State Bailout Act.
According to a survey released by JPMorgan in late January, while some state and local budgets took a financial hit due to the epidemic-induced recession, most states actually ended up with “nearly flat” revenues in 2020, down just 0.12 percent from the previous year. The data is based on monthly tax reports from 47 states.
The analysis shows that 21 states saw positive revenue growth compared to last year.
Here is a look at the financial support states will receive from the new bailout bill.
Alabama: $4.04 billion
Alaska: $1.36 billion
Arizona: $7.63 billion
Arkansas: $2.81 billion
California: $42.63 billion
Colorado: $6.07 billion
Connecticut: $4.35 billion
Delaware: $1.36 billion
District of Columbia: $1.62 billion
Florida: $17.62 billion
Georgia: $8.40 billion
Hawaii: $2.27 billion
Idaho: $1.89 billion
Illinois: $13.71 billion
Indiana: $5.86 billion
Iowa: $2.69 billion
Kansas: $2.72 billion
Kentucky: $4.24 billion
Louisiana: $5.19 billion
Maine: $1.65 billion
Maryland: $6.36 billion
Massachusetts: $8.10 billion
Michigan: $10.31 billion
Minnesota: $4.88 billion
Mississippi: $2.90 billion
Missouri: $5.48 billion
Montana: $1.37 billion
Nebraska: $1.77 billion
Nevada: $4.12 billion
New Hampshire: $1.54 billion
New Jersey: $10.19 billion
New Mexico: $2.46 billion
New York: $23.80 billion
North Carolina: $8.94 billion
North Dakota: $1.36 billion
Ohio: $11.24 billion
Oklahoma: $3.65 billion
Oregon: $4.26 billion
Pennsylvania: $1.372 billion
Rhode Island: $1.78 billion
South Carolina: $3.87 billion
South Dakota: $1.37 billion
Tennessee: $6.31 billion
Texas: $27.62 billion
Utah: $2.74 billion
Vermont: $1.36 billion
Virginia: $6.88 billion
Washington: $7.10 billion
West Virginia: $2.06 billion
Wisconsin: $5.71 billion
Wyoming: $1.36 billion
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