After Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Michael battered Florida in successive years, in 2017 and 2018, the federal government sent $7 billion to aid the recoveries. We are all Americans, and people of Florida were innocent victims who needed our help. No one argued it.
But that patriotic reflex is missing now, in New Jersey’s hour of need. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is resisting what he calls a “blue state bailout.” And GOP Sen. Rick Scott, who was governor of Florida during both hurricanes, hit the same note on the Senate floor Wednesday.
“We are bailing out liberal politicians who cannot live within their means,” said Scott.
I offer this infuriating snapshot to praise Sen. Robert Menendez. He must want to burn down the Senate, but he’s choking that down, and instead skillfully maneuvering to gather Republican support for a $500 billion rescue package, sponsoring a bipartisan bill that is sculpted to win the 13 GOP votes needed to overcome a filibuster.
“It’s a well-constructed bill that could win support from both sides,” says Rutgers Professor Ross Baker, a leading scholar of the Senate. “Menendez is a serious guy, and in the Senate you develop a reputation as a person people want to partner with. Menendez is a regarded as a heavyweight. Whatever problems he’s had in the past, he’s managed to overcome. I’m impressed.”
New Jersey is fighting for its life in Washington. The pandemic will cost us between $20 billion and $30 billion through next year, according to Gov. Phil Murphy, a combination of lost tax revenue and emergency expenses. The state’s annual budget is about $40 billion.
That math is impossible. McConnell’s pinched approach would force mass layoffs of public workers at all levels, along with punishing tax hikes that would kneecap our recovery. That’s the future McConnell has in mind for New Jersey. Thanks, Mitch, we’ll remember.
Back to Menendez. His task is a delicate one. Because the bipartisanship we briefly saw in the early days of the crisis has broken down, according to Menendez and several member of New Jersey’s House delegation. The first four rescue bills provided $3 trillion in aid, with broad support. But the Democratic House wants to send $3 trillion more, with $1 trillion earmarked for aid to state and local governments.
Menendez knows the Republican Senate will not pass that bill, so his task is to get what he realistically can. He partnered with Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Republican doctor from Louisiana, one of a handful of hard-hit red states. He focused on aid to state and local governments, and cut the House allotment in half, to $500 billion. He agreed to disperse some of the money based on population to draw support in red states, even though it obviously makes more sense to allot it based on need. He’s making the painful compromises that grown ups have to make in politics.
“You should send assistance to where the disaster is, but there’s also the reality of getting something done,” Menendez says. “And the reality is that to get something done, we need 60 votes.”
Menendez needs 13 Republican votes, assuming Democrats stick together. He says he has two nailed down, two more very close, and he says as the crisis deepens across a variety of states, he’ll get more. “That will be a natural draw, unfortunately,” he says.
Remember this moment, though. Even if Menendez succeeds, we’ll get less than we need and deserve. Instead of help, we’re getting pompous lectures about how to manage our own affairs.
Scott says blue states put themselves in a bind by spending too much on pensions for public workers and other programs. What nerve.
New Jersey is a donor state, one of the sugar daddies that sends more to Washington than we get back. That cost us $11.5 billion last year, more than double our pensions costs. To put it another way, if we stopped subsidizing Washington, we could solve our pension problem in a snap, and have a giant surplus left over.
McConnell’s state, Kentucky, is a leading parasite, taking in $45 billion more than it sends to Washington each year. So who really needs to get their house in order, senator? Who is really getting the bailout?
Menendez deserves a raise for putting up with this every day, working to contain the damage. He hasn’t been tested for the virus yet, and so has not met his third granddaughter, a newborn. He’s concerned about the debt he’s leaving them but says it would be even larger if we let the economy sink into Depression, a real risk if this drags on long enough.
“I am conscious of what I’m bequeathing them,” he said of his grandchildren. “But I won’t bequeath them anything if we don’t get through this.”
In my darker moments, I wonder if Abe Lincoln was such a genius after all for holding this country together and barring states from leaving. Maybe it’s time for blue states to break away, with amnesty for any American who wants to join our side. We could invite in Canada while we’re at it.
Yes, I’m kidding. But next time a hurricane hits Florida, it’s going to take a special effort to block out this moment and do the right thing. And that’s no joke.
More: Tom Moran columns
Tom Moran may be reached at tmoran@starledger.com. Follow him on Twitter @tomamoran. Find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.
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