‘We need help.’ McGrath criticizes McConnell for federal COVID-19 response.
Former Marine Corps pilot Amy McGrath criticized the federal government’s coronavirus relief package Monday, saying it had “holes” and painting it as a bailout for big corporations as the number of COVID-19 cases surges in Kentucky.
“We need help,” McGrath said after speaking to the Madison County Democratic Women’s Club. “And it’s just unacceptable to just dole out billions, $500 billion for corporations to bail out Wall Street and then turn around and say to state and local governments — public schools, firefighters, teachers, social workers, the very fabric of our society — well you ought to go bankrupt.”
As it has upended the lives of Kentuckians, the COVID-19 pandemic — and the federal response to it — has become a defining issue of the 2020 campaign for U.S. Senate.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, whose leadership position makes him instrumental in passing federal coronavirus relief packages, has spent the past month touring local hospitals and health clinics in the state touting the $2 trillion CARES Act, which he helped shepherd into law.
“Amy McGrath should put down the talking points Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer sent her and try talking with the thousands of Kentuckians — and even her own campaign vendors — whose livelihoods have been saved thanks to Senator McConnell’s leadership,’ said Kate Cooksey, McConnell’s press secretary. “It’s time for Amy to stop lying.”
But as cases across the country continue to climb, McConnell finds himself in the process of negotiating the next phase of COVID-19 relief, a position that forces him to balance demands from the White House and the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives as he attempts to get re-elected in a year Democrats hope will be a “blue wave.”
McConnell was adamant earlier this month that the next bill would have liability protections for businesses and hospitals and that it would focus on providing schools with enough resources to safely reopen in the fall.
On Monday, McGrath pushed for funding for state and local governments, a proposal McConnell has viewed with skepticism. In March, McConnell equated relief for local and state governments to a “blue state bailout” and said he was open to states “using the bankruptcy route.”
McGrath also has a political reason for promoting funding for state and local governments. In 2019, former Gov. Matt Bevin, who battled with teachers and public employees over their pension plans, lost a tough reelection bid to Gov. Andy Beshear. McGrath has emphasized the role state and local governments play in funding everything from firefighters to public schools.
In the past, McConnell’s office and campaign have pointed to money from the CARES Act that reimburses states for expenses related to the pandemic.
The uneven response from the federal government has led to criticism and poor polling numbers for President Donald Trump. McConnell, who’s reelection effort in large part hinges on Kentucky’s support for Trump, has tried to distance himself in small ways.
As he’s toured the state, the 78-year-old polio survivor has stressed the need for people to wear masks when in public. He has called the politicization of wearing a mask “absurd.” He backed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after Trump criticized their recommendations for students returning to school.
McGrath, however, said McConnell isn’t doing enough to combat the response coming from the White House.
“I think Mitch McConnell has made a political calculation, and it’s a calculation that he has made all along that he doesn’t want to stand up to the president,” McGrath said. “And all along, throughout this coronavirus, we have seen mixed messages from the administration. We have seen leadership downplay the pandemic, we have seen leadership say that it’s going to go away and all of this stuff, mixed messages the whole time.”
McGrath also pushed for money for a federal testing and tracing program, an aspect of a proposed bill the Trump Administration has tried to block, and for Congress to extend the additional $600 a week in unemployment insurance, which is set to expire July 31. (Some Republicans have said the extra money discourages people from returning to work).
“This is devastating,” McGrath said of the pandemic. “Anybody who says we have to keep the same leaders after all of that, I mean we’ve got to wake up. We should not keep the same leaders that literally allowed this to happen and drove us into the ditch.”
