As Democrats in Congress double-down on their demands for another $3 trillion in stimulus spending having passed their spending agenda in the Democrat-controlled House, Gov Andrew Cuomo warns that his state has accrued more than $61 billion in debt pertaining to its coronavirus response. Federal aid is the only feasible alternative for the state to manage such an incredible burden without essentially being forced in between a rock and a hard place, with the only alternative being a combination of draconian spending cuts and confiscatory tax hikes.

The problem for blue states like New York is that they fund their generous state budgets primarily with income tax and sales tax revenues, both of which have dried up during the crisis. At the same time, since Trump delegated most of the responsibility for on-the-ground virus response to the states (in cooperation with federal agencies like FEMA), spending has soared.