State and local government leaders this week kept pleading for Congress to include significant funding to help them survive the costs of the COVID-19 pandemic, but to little avail as negotiations between House Democrats, Senate Republicans and the White House appear to have come to a standstill.
Without a rescue package, the officials said, states, cities and counties face a financial abyss that will force more furloughs and layoffs, cuts to vital services and delays to critical IT and cybersecurity investments. On a conference call Friday, a group of county leaders from New York State, joined by members of Congress, said that more than halfway into their current fiscal years, it’s the “last call” to prevent local governments from falling off the cliff.
