Stuck Mostly In White House, Trump Brings Governors To Him For Meetings Filled With Mutual Praise
President Donald Trump hasn't been able to hit the road and hold rallies like he wants to, so he's bringing governors to him. The meetings follow, a more-or-less boilerplate format that involves a lot of mutual praise and pictures.
Politico:
Trump’s Lockdown Workaround: Bring The Governors To Him
President Donald Trump hasn’t been able to go out, so he’s welcoming governors in. The visits are strikingly similar: Trump touts the governors as “special” and “great” and they in turn thank him for the “enormous help in our darkest hour of need.” The president cracks a joke or two about the governor getting a negative coronavirus test sitting down next to him. And then they all pose for the cameras. (Kumar, 5/14)
In other news from the governors —
The Hill:
Governors Warn COVID-19 Relief Is Becoming A 'Political Football'
The bipartisan chairs of the National Governors Association on Wednesday urged Congress to pass more economic relief efforts to help assuage the damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic, warning against allowing debate over the vital aid to become yet another partisan flashpoint. In a joint statement, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said states need at least $500 billion in aid to make up for revenues lost during the crisis. "Each day that Congress fails to act, states are being forced to make cuts that will devastate the essential services the American people rely on and destroy the economic recovery before it even gets off the ground," Hogan and Cuomo wrote. (Wilson, 5/13)
The Associated Press:
Pandemic Wrecks Many State Budgets, Could Trigger Deep Cuts
As the nation enters a third month of economic devastation, the coronavirus is proving ruinous to state budgets, forcing many governments to consider deep cuts to schools, universities, health care and other basic functions that would have been unthinkable just a few months ago. Many states expect their revenue to plunge by 15% to 20% because government-ordered lockdowns have wiped out much of the economy and caused tax collections to evaporate. That puts statehouses billions of dollars in the red for the fiscal year that usually begins in July, with no end to the crisis in sight. (Mulvihill, 5/13)
